THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



derived from M. prunifolia var. rinki which grows 

 wild on the margins of woods and on the banks of 

 mountain torrents in Hupeh, central China, where I 

 discovered it in 1907. In habit, general appearance, 

 and flowers it resembles M. pumila, but the fruit-stalk 

 is much longer and more slender, and the fruit, which 

 is small, is not impressed at the apex but has the 

 calyx raised, thickened, and fleshy at the base. When 

 the Chinese first began to cultivate the apple is 

 not known, but it was long, long ago. From China 

 it has been introduced to Korea and Japan where, 

 however, it is fast being displaced by apples of the 

 European type introduced from America. The 

 Chinese apple is small, ripens early, is greenish 

 to greenish-yellow and is rosy on one side; occasion- 

 ally it is nearly all red; the flavour is pleasant and 

 bitter-sweet. It ripens its fruit in the hot, moist 

 Yangtsze Valley round Ichang in July, and on the 

 mountains, where the climate is severe, in early 

 September. As a fruit it has no particular value to 

 recommend it to Western gardens but since it thrives 

 under extremes of climate it may be useful to the 

 hybridist. 



The history of the Common Pear closely parallels 

 that of our Apple but there is much less folk-lore 

 gathered round it. In Britain, until about a century 

 ago, it was more valued for making Perry than for 



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