30 AGRICULTURAL EXPLORATIONS IN THE ORCHARDS OF CHINA. 



between the two last-mentioned species. The trees are found as 

 isolated specimens and look very much like the real Pyrus chinensis, 

 but are of denser growth and have large, beautiful, glossy leaves, 

 while the fruits are rather large, have medium-long peduncles and 

 persistent calyxes, and are mealy when ripe. Their color is a rusty 

 brown. A small group of pears, the "Tang li" group, has probably 

 been derived from this strain of wild pears. (S. P. I. No. 21983.) 



The last in the list of the wild pears in northern China is the Pyrus 

 betulaefolia, or "Doh li." The fruit of this pear does not grow any 

 larger than a good-sized green pea. It hangs in bunches, covering 

 the whole tree, is brown in color, and does not become soft and 

 edible until late in the fall. The trees generally do not grow very 

 tall, but form extraordinarily dense heads of branches. One often 

 finds well-developed specimens growing on the alkaline or sandy 

 plains. They thrive equally well on cliffs and along streams, but 

 they are then of a more shrubby nature. This pear is extensively 

 used as a stock for cultivated varieties in those parts of northern 

 China where the winter is not too severe. It stands alkali wonder- 

 fully well and will grow even in pure sand. 



The Chinese claim that this pear is far easier to grow from cut- 

 tings than to raise from seed. I can not vouch for this statement, 

 but I know that the people apparently always have some stock on 

 hand, though it has often a wonderfully straggling habit. This 

 pear may be of use to us as a shade and ornamental tree, being cov- 

 ered in the spring with an amazing quantity of flowers, followed by 

 a multitude of small fruits, which hide among the dense mass of 

 foliage. (S. P. I. Xos. 17727 and 21982.) 



APPLES. 

 [Chixese name, " Ping kua.*'] 



CULTIVATED VARIETIES. 



The apples {Malus spp.) of China are very inferior in flavor to the 

 western kinds. In fact, the true apple, Malus sylvestris, does not do 

 very well in eastern China, and beyond a few specimens in the gardens 

 of foreign residents it seems to be unknown to the Chinese. In the 

 Shantung Province and in some parts of Mongolia there are said to 

 be native apples of superior flavor, but I never had the good fortune to 

 come across them, unless it were some apples I tasted in the garden of 

 the late Doctor Xevius, an American missionary in Chefoo, who intro- 

 duced many kinds of western fruits into China. 



The larger, whitish varieties of apples which the Chinese cultivate 

 seem to belong to the Malus prunifolia group. The trees have a wide- 

 branching growth; the leaves are tomentose, ovate, with rounded 



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