148 TREES 



The pear, the quince, and the curious medlar, with its 

 core exposed at the blossom end — all relatives of the]apple — 

 trace their lineage to European and Asiatic wild ancestors. 

 The Siberian crab, native of northern Asia, is the parent of 

 our hard-fleshed, slender-stemmed garden crabapples. 

 Japan has given us some wonderful apple trees, with fruit 

 no larger than cherries, cultivated solely for their flowers. 

 The ornamental flora of America has been greatly enriched 

 by these varieties. 



Four native apples are found in American woods. 

 Horticulturists have produced new varieties by crossing 

 some of these sturdy natives with cultivated apples, or 

 their seedling offspring. 



The Prairie Crab 



Mains loensis, Britt. 



The prairie crab apple is the woolly twigged, pink-blos- 

 somed wild crab of the woods, from Minnesota and Wis- 

 consin to Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. It has crossed 

 with the roadside "wilding" trees and produced a hybrid 

 known to horticulture as the Soulard apple, from its dis- 

 coverer. These wild trees bear fruit that is distinctly an 

 improvement upon that of either parent. It is regarded 

 as a distinctly promising apple for the coldest of the 

 prairie states, and has already become the parent of several 

 improved varieties. 



The Wild Crab 



M. coronaria. Mill. 



Throughout the wooded regions, from the Great Lakes 

 to Texas and Alabama, the wild crabapple brightens the 



