64 THE APPLE-TREE 



P. coronaria itself may not be a single species. These wild 

 crabs run into many forms. In the northern Mississippi and 

 prairie country are native apples good enough to be intro- 

 duced into cultivation under varietal names. These are 

 Pyrus Soulardii, a species bearing the name of J. G. Soulard, 

 Illinois horticulturist. These crab-apples are probably nat- 

 ural hybrids between Pyrus Mains and the prairie crab, P. . 

 ioensis. Had there been no European apple to be intro- 

 duced by colonists, it is probable that improved forms would 

 have been evolved from the native species. In that event, 

 North American pomology would have had a very different 

 character. 



There remains a very different class of apple-trees, 

 grown only for ornament and usually known as "flowering 

 apples." They are mostly native in China and Japan. They 

 are small trees, or even almost bushes, with profuse hand- 

 some flowers and some of them with very ornamental little 

 fruits. They have come to this country largely from Japan 

 where they are grown for decoration, as the cherries of 

 Japan are grown not for fruit but for their flowers, being 

 of very different species from the cherries of Europe and 

 America. The common apple itself yields varieties grown 

 only for ornament, as one with variegated leaves, one with 

 double flowers, and one with drooping branches. These are 

 known mostly in Europe ; but these forms do not compare 

 in interest with the handsome species of the Far East. 



All these differing species of the apple-tree multiply 

 the interest and hold the attention in many countries. They 

 make the apple-tree group one of the most widespread and 

 adaptable of temperate-region trees. It will be seen that 

 there are three families of them, — ^the Eurasian family, 

 from which come the pomological apples ; the North Amer- 



