FLOWERING CRABS. 



345 



for the lawn or shrubbery. To enjoy to 

 the full their rich autumn colour, full 

 sunlight is needed, and certain soils also 

 exert a marked influence in this way, 

 those loams reddened by iron or red 

 sandstone yielding fruits of high colour, 

 while upon other soils the fruit may be 

 less brilliant spite of much sun and care 

 infeeding. Several fine kinds have found 

 their way to us ofrecent years from China 

 and japan and others have been raised in 

 nurseries, but for brilliant colour none 

 is better than the kind newly introduced 

 from Turkestan and shown in our plate. 

 Its one fault is the name with which 

 science has afflicted it. Otherwise, the 

 rich crimson of its flower clusters, re- 

 called in autumn by the intense colour 

 of its fruits, make it one of the most dis- 

 tinct and beautiful of ornamental Crabs. 



Among the many kinds differing in 

 aspect, habit, and beauty, without per- 

 sonal knowledge it is not easy to choose 

 those best for any given purpose, so that 

 a short review of best kinds may be use- 

 ful to the planter. For grouping in 

 wooded glades the varieties of baccata 

 and prunifolia are best, or if smaller trees 

 are wanted, the Chinese, Garland, and 

 Hall's Crabs,areallgood. Dwarfer kinds 

 of rich colour such as floribunda,Halli- 

 ana, and Schiedeckeri are better in the 

 open, and the dwarf forms of Ringo and 

 Toringo from the mountains of Japan, 

 are quite at home on banks or slopes 

 of the rock-garden. The kinds nearest 

 evergreen are the Garland and Narrow- 

 leaved American Crabs, with Toringo, 

 mela?iocarpa prostrata, and niedzwetz- 

 kyanabest£ov autumnleaf-colour. The 

 double and semi-double varieties of co- 



ro?iaria and spectabilis, with Halli- 

 ana, Tenor 'it , and Sch iedec&eri have the 

 longest season of bloom, the late and 

 scented flowers of coronaria being the 

 largest and most lasting of all, with the 

 single flowers of Kaido about second for 

 size. The young leaves of Pyrus Halli- 

 ana and niedzwetzkyana are reddish- 

 purple in their early stages, and the 

 fruits of the last unlike any others in 

 shape and character. For pale masses of 

 flower the old tree-like forms are best, 

 and for vivid colour the newer kinds such 

 as Hall's and Spath's Crabs, Pyrus niedz- 

 wetzkyana and the dark form of flori- 

 bunda. As they grow old the lower 

 branches ofmanykinds droop gracefully 

 earthwards, and two weeping kinds are 

 p?~unifolia pendula, and Elise Rathke — 

 an Apple of fine effect where its branches 

 can trail freely. 



Though not to be com- 



Household Uses. , ° . , . , . . . 



pared with orchard kinds 

 the finer Crab Apples are of value for 

 their fruit, and there is an increasing call 

 for fruiting Crabs even where the orna- 

 mental kinds are neglected. These little 

 fruits, so fragrant and highly coloured, 

 are pretty upon the table, and their crisp 

 juiciness and acid flavour is often wel- 

 come as a change for dessert. Many 

 kinds are now used in this way, and 

 among the best are the Dartmouth and 

 Transcendent Crabs, the Fairy Apple — 

 of fine colour and good flavour, and 

 Montreal Beauty — a favouriteCanadian 

 kind. For their later fruits the Lady 

 Crab — medium late, the Chicago, the 

 Striated Crab, and Tardive d 'hiver are 

 all good. For preserving their uses are 

 varied; boiled to a paste from which the 



