CRAB-APPLES

In popular significance, the word ‘‘crab-apple’’ is applied to any small, sour apple, especially in Europe to the fruits of wild trees of the species (Pyrus mal us) which has given us the apples of common cultivation. The true crab of the botanist, the small, hard Siberian Crab, constitutes a different species—P. baccata. Large crab-apples are chiefly hybrids of the cultivated Malus and Baccata. There are two important native crab-apples—the ‘‘Prairie-states,’’ or ‘‘Western’’ (P. ioensis), among whose hybrids with the common apple is the comparatively big Soulard; and the ‘‘Eastern-states’’? (P. coronaria). Crab-apples vary from very small, through an average of one inch or so in diameter, to some types considerably larger. Their harsh, acid taste renders them almost inedible when raw, but they make delicious preserves, marmalades, jellies, and spiced pickles.