26o 



Garden and Forest. 



[May 29, 



llowci", is one of the most strikfng, almost startling, objects 

 imaginable, while the double white, owing to the profusion of 

 the flowers, wiien the biuls are not destroyed by frost, is for a 

 few days one of the loveliest of all spring-flowering trees. 

 These doidjle-tlowering Peaches are in bloom generally a 

 week or ten days later tiian the common Peach. Like them, 

 they are subject to the attacks of fungus and of borers, and 

 are short-lived, and must, therefore, be often renewed. Their 

 beauty as ornamental trees is confined to the short flowering 

 time, so that, in spite of the loveliness of the flowers, they 

 should not be planted here as freely as some other showy- 

 llowered trees, especially as the climate does not suit them 

 particularly well. The variety with blood-j^ed Howers may be 

 seen in some of the public squares of Washington, where 

 there are many fine specimens, in very great perfection, and 

 it is doubtful if any one seeing this tree there in flower for the 

 first time passed it by without an exclamation of admiration 

 or without asking what it was. 



A large nimiber of the so-called "flowering" Apples are 

 now at their best. They flower usually ten days later, but the 

 unprecedented heat of the last few days has forced many plants 

 into bloom long before their time. These small Apples, taken 

 as a whole, surpass all other trees here in floral beauty at this 

 particular period of the year, and there are no more satisfac- 

 tory plants for the May decoradon of the lawn or tiie shrub- 

 bery. They flower profusely, at least most of the varieties do, 

 year after year; they are indifferent to cold, to heat or to 

 drought, and they do not grow unmanageal)ly large. They 

 like rich soil, and well repay generous treatment. 



It is hopeless, and certainly not necessary, in these notes, to 

 try to unravel the intricacies of the synonomy of the Apples, or 

 even to refer in every case the cultivated forms to recognized 

 species. The species of Apples, their origin and distribution 

 have puzzled the best-equipped botanists, and no two of them 

 have ever held quite the same views with regard to these plants. 



There is a very large number of these Apples in the Ar- 

 boretum, gathered during many years from the best European 

 collections and raised from seed obtained from all available 

 sources. Speaking broadly, they may be referred to four 

 types. There are, first, the varieties of the common Apple 

 {Pyrus Malus) which are generally recognizable by the light 

 gray bark, pale leaves, which are, with the petiolesand shoots, 

 woolly-pubescent on the lower surface while young, and by 

 the minute, scale-like bract on the peduncle. There is a 

 handsome variety with double flowers ; others with pendulous 

 branches or with dwarf habit, and one curious one with 

 shrubby habit, narrow leaves, and small fruit less than an 

 inch in dianieter, and persistent upon the branches until after 

 the flowering-time the following year. 



Next should be mentioned the Chinese Apple {Pyrus spec- 

 tabilis), a well marked species not difficult to distinguish, at 

 least in the double or semi-double flowered form — the only 

 one apparently now known in cultivation. The flowers were 

 figured in this journal last year (i. 272, f. 214), and there are 

 colored plates in the " Nouveau Duhamel" (vi. t. 42, f. 2) and 

 in Watson's " Dendrologia Britannica" (i. t. 50). It is one of 

 the handsomest of the whole race, and one of the most pro- 

 fuse and persistent bloomers. It is a shrub-like free, reach- 

 ing a height of twenty feet, characterized by the upright habit 

 of growth of the branches, which give to fully grown specimens 

 a sort of vase-like form, reddish-brown bark, oblong-ovate 

 leaves, which, like the peduncles, are covered, while young, 

 with fine, short tomentum, which disappears before the 

 leaves reach maturity, when they are dark green, thick and 

 leathery. The flowers are rose-colored or pink and white, and 

 delightfully fragrant. 



A large proi)ortion of the Apples in the collection produce 

 fruits, for which the lobes of the calyx fall off before it is ripe, 

 and often before it is fully grown, and therefore are best re- 

 ferred to Pyrus baccata, in which this peculiarity is the most 

 constant and most apparent character. These plants vary, 

 except in the deciduous calyx, remarkably among themselves, 

 and in looking at some of the extreme forms it is hard to 

 realize that they may be referred to a single species. The 

 habit, flower, foliage and fnu't are all different, the last 

 varying in size from a diameter of nearly three-fourths of an 

 inch to one of less than one-eighth of an inch. But with all 

 the forms before me it is impossible to find any real distin- 

 guishing characters in them, except the deciduous calyx. 

 Pyrus baccata is itself a widely-distributed species in Siberia, 

 through northern China to Japan and in the Himalayas. It 

 has long been cultivated not only in Europe, Ijut from time im- 

 memorial by the Chinese and Japanese, so that it is not sur- 

 prising that innumerable forms have been developed, espe- 

 cially as all the Pomacece show a remarkable tendency to 



seminal variation. The most beautiful of tlie various forms, 

 referred here to P. baccata, are tliose of Japanese origin, 

 known in gardens as Pyrus Malus floribunda, and its double- 

 flowered variety (see this journal, i. 152, f. 30) introduced mto 

 this country by Ur. Hall, and variously known in American 

 gardens as P. Parkmanni or P. Halleana. It seems identical 

 with the plant grown in Europe as/", spectabilis Kaido. These 

 Japanese Crabs are low, bushy trees, with dark brown bark, 

 branching from the ground, growing to a height, perhaps, of 

 twenty feet, and spreading to a breadth of twenty or twenty- 

 five feet. When they are in bloom they are wonderful objects, 

 the branches being entirely covered witli the flowers, which 

 individually are not large and barely more than an inch across 

 when fully expanded. The buds are crimson and very showy, 

 so that the plants are perhaps more attractive just before the 

 ilowers open than at any other time. The flowers, when they 

 expand, are pink, and then gradually fade to white before 

 the petals fall ; the effect of the white masses of flowers being 

 often set off by a few unopened buds near the ends of the 

 branches. Their fragrance is powerful and delicious, and 

 may be perceived for a long distance when a large plant is in 

 bloom. The fruit is minute, the size of a pea, dull-colored 

 and devoid of beauty. In the semi-double form the petals are 

 deep rose-colored, the calyx dark red, and the young leaves 

 piu-ple. 



Among other forms of what are taken here to be varieties 

 of P. baccata are several plants of very great ornamental value, 

 with yellow-brown bark, symmetrical, arborescent habit, rather 

 thin, glabrous acmninate leaves, and large, pure, snow-white, 

 fragrant flowers, nearly two inches across when expanded, and 

 small fruit. They have been raised principally from seed 

 derived from the St. Petersburg Garden, and sent under 

 several different names. There are in the herbarium wild 

 specimens gathered in the northern island of Japan, which are 

 identical with some of these forms. 



Pyrus Toringo is a Japanese shrubby species which grows 

 well here. The leaves are sharply and deeply incised, and 

 often three-lobed; they are woolly-pubescent, as are the shoots 

 when young ; the flowers are smaller than those of the other 

 Apples, and the fruit is minute, with deciduous calyx-lobes. 

 Pyrus Sieboldii of gardens seems to be a form of this, still 

 smaller in all its parts. Neither of these plants, except in this 

 pubescence and in the shape of their leaves, are readily sepa- 

 rated from Pyrus baccata. 



Pyrus pruiiifolia, or a number of plants, which seem more 

 readily referred to that species than to any of the others are the 

 last of the series. Pyrits pruiiifolia \s itself a doubtful plant, 

 doubtfully known in a wild state, although generally credited 

 to Siberia. According to Regel it is found in the Baical, and 

 to Karl Koch in north China, Tartary and southern Siberia. It 

 has been cultivated for more than a century, and is the original 

 of the garden Crabs ; and if really a wild plant, it has been 

 greatly changed by cultivation and by crossing with varieties 

 of the common Apple. What are considered here forms of 

 this plant are stout bushy trees branching from the ground 

 and forming broad masses of foliage some twenty feet high 

 by as much through. The bark is brown or gray-brown, con- 

 siderably darker than that of the common Apple-tree. The 

 leaves are broadly elliptical, sfiarply serrate, with long petioles, 

 and, like the shoots, pubescent when young, especially on the 

 lower surface. The flowers, with pubescent calyx-lobes and 

 hairy styles connate to the middle, are larger than those of 

 the other Apples, being fully two and a half inches across the 

 expanded petals. They are pure white in some individuals, 

 rose-colored fading to white in others, and very fragrant. The 

 fruit has persistent calyx-lobes, is from half an inch to an inch 

 in diameter, bright scarlet on some individuals, clear yellow 

 on others. It retains its shape and color until winter, and re- 

 mains upon the trees until the following spring. These trees 

 flower much less freely than the varieties of P. baccata, and do 

 not flower equally well every year, owing, perhaps, to the 

 presence of some Malus blood, which it seems possible to 

 trace also in the character of the pubescence and the coloring 

 of the young leaves. 



Considered from the point of view of ornament, the most 

 valuable of all these Apples, as flowering trees, are the Japan- 

 ese Crab {Pyrus Malus floribu7ida, of gardens) and its double- 

 flowered variety (/*. Parkmanni ox P. Halleana, of gardens); next 

 in value is the Chinese Crab (Pyrus spectabilis), then various 

 large-flowered varieties of Pyrus baccata, tlie varieties of 

 Pyrus Malus, Pyrus pruitifolia, whicli is the only species with 

 ornamental fruit, and the only one, therefore, valuable for 

 autumn effects, and lastly Pyrus Toringo, which is rather 

 curious than really beautiful. The North American Crab 

 PyruS coronaria does not flower until several weeks later, but 



