6 
a quarter in diameter. On some of the trees it is bright yellow, on 
others bright red and on others red and yellow. There is less differ- 
ence in the flowers, but the leaves vary on the different plants in shape 
and in the absence or presence of a covering of hairs. Whenever the 
seeds of Crabapples are gathered from trees in collections great or 
small there will be new hybrids; some of these will be distinct and 
beautiful like the hybrids of the central Asiatic Malus Niedwetzkyana 
which have appeared in European gardens and are now cultivated un- 
der the name of Malus purpurea, and the persons who raise such new 
hybrids will naturally want to have them distinguished by name. The 
number of varieties of such hybrids has no limit, and as the same hybrid 
may appear in different countries at about the same time and receive 
different names students of these trees have the promise of even 
greater trouble in the future than they have had in the past when 
they had the offspring of only a few species to deal with. As has 
been often stated in these Bulletins there is but one way to propagate 
Crabapples if types of the species, varieties and hybrids are wanted 
and that is by grafting. It is cheaper to raise seedlings, and seedlings 
are often sold in American nurseries as species. They are often orna- 
' mental but rarely are true to the name under which they are sold. 
The first Crabapple to open its flowers this year is again the Man- 
churian, north China and Korean form of Malus baccata (var. mand- 
shurica) which is the eastern form of the better known Siberian Crab- 
apple {Malus baccata) which has been cultivated in Europe for more 
than a century and has been the parent of many hybrids. The Man- 
churian form as it grows in the Arboretum is a tree some fifteen feet tall 
and broad. The flowers, which are produced in profusion, are pure 
white, more than an inch across and more fragrant than those of any 
other Asiatic Crabapple. The fruit is round, yellow or red, and not 
larger than a large pea. A form of this tree, var. Jackii, brought 
from Korea by Professor Jack in 1905, is distinguished by its larger 
dark scarlet fruit. The Manchurian Crabapple, which is still rare in 
this country, should, for the fragrance of its flowers alone find a place 
in all collections. Almost as early is Malus robusta, which is believed 
to be a hybrid between Malus baccata and M. prunifolia, a north China 
plant. This tree was raised here in the early days of the Arboretum 
from the seeds of Malus baccata sent from the Botanic Garden at 
Petrograd. It is covered every spring with large, pure white, or rarely 
greenish, fragrant flowers which are rather more than an inch in diam- 
eter and larger than those of the other Asiatic Crabs. The fruit dif- 
fers somewhat in size on different trees and is subglobose and dull red. 
In good soil and with sufficient space for development this Crab will 
grow into a large tree, with a broad, round-topped head of spreading, 
often slightly pendulous branches. This is the handsomest of the white- 
flowered Crabs and one of the most beautiful of early spring-flowering 
trees which can be safely planted in this part of the country. The 
largest specimens in the Arboretum are in the old Apple Collection on 
the left-hand side of the Forest Hills Road. 
Malus micromalus, another early-flowering Crab, is one of the least 
known of these trees. It was first sent to Europe by Von Siebold in 1856 
