CRABAPPLES FOR THE GARDEN 



JOHN DUNBAR, Assistant Superintendent of Parks, Sewyork 



A Group of the Hardiest and Most Profuse-Flowered Large or Small Trees That Bloom When Quite 

 Young, Increase in Glory Year by Year, and Have Fruits at the Same Time Decorative and Useful 



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L'CH as "apple-blossom time" is loved for the 

 transcendent beauty of the pictures that orchards 

 make in the early summer, we do little to put 

 f5PP§ into practice in our gardens the suggestion thus 

 borne — the pictorial possibilities of flowering trees. We give 

 too much attention to the small undergrowth things of the 

 garden and too little to the embellishment of the background. 

 We do not need to transport the apple tree into the garden 

 for this though, because in the closely related Crabapples 

 (both of Asia and America) we have available a number of 

 trees that are even more glorious in the fragile tracery and 

 delicacy of their bloom, and with a greater range of coloring 

 from crystalline white to pink and bright rose-crimson. 



OF ALL the flowering trees for American gardens the 

 Crabapples are the most wonderful. Most of them 

 flower freely when young and quite small, and indeed it takes 

 a good many years for a tree to attain its individual character; 

 but as it grows old it does it gloriously, giving its wreaths 

 and garlands of bloom each year, and when the fall comes the 

 branches are laden, literally with continuous strings of minia- 

 ture apples variously golden yellow or ruby red. And even 

 here their usefulness does not end — the branches may be cut 

 for interior decoration or the ripened fruits may be left to 

 succor the birds; or gathered, they may be used for the con- 

 fection of delicious jellies of colors like unto precious stones. 



CRABAPPLES are almost universal in their fitness to 

 conditions. They will thrive wherever the apple 

 will grow and in some other places besides. Can we 

 ask more? To increase the stock it is best not to 

 rely upon the seed, although germination is quite 

 easy; but with seed one can never be sure that the 

 result will be an exact reproduction of the parent 

 (even if saved from good true species) because 

 Crabapples are very prone to cross-pollination. 



The proper way to increase stock is by root-grafting in" 

 winter on strong central roots of apple seedling three to four 

 inches long. Tongue grafting is the most practical. Secure 

 the grafts with knitting cotton, keep in a cool cellar, and plant 

 in nursery rows or frames in May. In three or four years 

 you will have planting stock. 



There are many Crabapples. Their variety is almost in- 

 finite; but our purpose is to offer a selection of those which 

 experience has proven to be worthy and representative. Par- 

 ticulars of these follow herewith. The flowering dates are 

 as recorded at Rochester, N. Y. 



AMONG our natives the one most notable is the Western 

 Crab, Malus loensis, which can be readily distinguished 

 from the other American species. The leaves are usually 

 elliptic-oblong, and downy below, and are more or less so at 



"STRINGS OF MINIATURE 



APPLES" 

 Reddish and round, that deck 

 the low growing Malus Sargentii 

 when flowers are no more 



maturity. The young growths and shoots are downy. The 

 pinkish-white flowers in clusters of 4 to 6 are very showy and 

 open later than the Eastern species, and are usually in flower 

 about May 28th. Bechtel's Crabapple, a double form of 

 this (shown in color on this month's cover), has become 

 popular during late years. 1 1 usually blooms about May 30th 

 and June 1st. 



TWO American Crabs that are much alike are Malus 

 glaucescens and M. coronarius blooming from May 20th 

 to 25th. I am much interested in the former species, because 

 I first noticed it growing wild in one of the Rochester parks 

 about 17 years ago. It had not then been separated from 

 the Garland Crab (Malus coronarius), yet it is distributed 

 from western New York to North Carolina, in a wild state. 



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