XXVI. ROSA‘CEZ!: PY'RUS, 443 
its buds, which are smooth and green, instead of being downy and black ; in 
the beginning of summer, by its leaflets being broader, downy above, and also 
beneath ; and, in autumn, by its pear or apple shaped fruit, which is four or 
five times the size of that of P. aucuparia, and of a dull greenish brown 
colour. It is said to be 30 years before it comes into a bearing state when it 
is raised from the seed ; but, when scions from fruit-bearing trees are grafted on 
seedling plants, or on the mountain ash, they come into bearing in a few years 
as in the case of other fruit trees. (See Gard. Mag., iv. p. 487.) The wood 
of the true service is the hardest and the heaviest of all the indigenous woods, 
of Europe. It weighs, when dry, no less than 721b. 20z. per cubic foot. 
It has a compact fine grain, a reddish tinge, and takes a very high polish ; but 
it must not be employed until it is thoroughly seasoned, as otherwise it is apt to 
twist and split. It is much sought after in France, by millwrights, for making 
cogs to wheels, rollers, cylinders, blocks and pulleys, spindles and axles; and 
for all those parts of machines which are subject to much friction, and re- 
quire great strength and durability. In France, it is preferred to all other 
kinds of wood for making the screws to wine-presses. In France, the fruit, 
when beginning to decay, is brought to table ; though it is not highly prized, 
and is more frequently eaten by the poor than the rich. In Britain, the tree 
is chiefly to be recommended as one of ornament and rarity. A good, free, 
deep, dry soil, and a sheltered situation, are essential, wherever it is at- 
tempted to grow this tree in Britain. From the specimens in the neighbour- 
hood of London, it does not appear to suffer from the climate, after it has 
been five or six years planted ; but it is rather difficult to establish young 
plants. Seeds may be procured in abundance from France ; and from them 
stocks may be raised on which the best fruit-bearing varieties may be grafted. 
The true service may also be grafted on the pear, the mountain ash, the haw- 
thorn, and other allied species. The graft should be made close to the 
ground, or even under it, on the root ; and care should be taken to retard 
the scion previously to grafting it, in order that the stock may be somewhat 
in advance of it. On the whole, the operation requires to be performed with 
the greatcst care ; because this is one of the most difficult of all non-resinous 
trees to graft successfully. The plants at Messrs. Loddiges’s ripen fruit every 
year, from the seeds of which numerous young plants have been raised. 
¥ 33. P. Lanucino’sa Dec. The woolly-leaved Service Tree. 
Identification, Dec. Prod., 2. p. 637.; Don’s Mill., 2. p. 646. eee oF 
Synonymes. P. h¥brida lanugindsa Hort. ; Sérbus lanugindsa Kit. in Litt., and Lodd. Cat. 
Engravings. The piate of this species in Arb. Brit., Ist edit., vol. vi. ; and our fig. 793. from a tree 
in the Horticultural Society’s Garden. 
Spec. Charg, §c. Buds woolly. Leaflets serrated, woolly beneath. Petiole 
woolly. Pome globose. (Dec. Prod.) A fastigiate tree of the middle 
size. A hybrid, when and whence originated is uncertain. Height 20 ft. to 
30 ft. Flowers white; May. Fruit small, like that of the mountain ash, 
but seldom coming to maturity. 
The trees of this species in Loddiges’s arboretum, and in the Horticultural 
Society’s Garden, are very distinct from any other sort, and appear to be 
hybrids between P. pinnatifida, or perhaps P. Sorbus, and the common moun- 
tain ash. The general form of the tree is fastigiate, with numerous parallel, 
rigid, upright shoots. The flowers and fruit resemble those of the mountain 
ash, but are smaller: the former are frequently abortive ; and the latter, when 
it is produced, is generally without seeds. It is a robust, hardy, vigorous- 
owing tree, which comes early into leaf, and is well deserving of a place in 
collections. This species, and all the others belonging to the section Sérbus, 
graft readily on the common hawthorn ; and, as they make very handsome, small, 
round-headed trees, beautiful at every season of the year, common hedges 
might be grafted with them at regular distances, and the grafts would grow 
up, and become handsome standards. 
