Properties of Timber: Crab Apple

The common Crab Tree (Pyrus Malus) is found native in many parts of this country, where it rises to the height of a considerable tree. When the soil is very rich, the fruit attains the size of a small apple, and is used in feeding hogs.

The timber is hard and compact, answers well for turning and for the working parts of machinery, while the shoots make good walking-sticks.

Near the bottoms of the eastern slopes of the Welch mountains, there are many crab trees, both singly and in the hedgerows, that produce a great deal of fruit.

The sour juice of the crab, previous to the introduction of modern methods of obtaining vegetable acids, was in demand under the name of verjuice.



summarised from "The Library of Entertaining Knowledge - Timber trees" (1829), pub. Charles Knight, Pall Mall.

ND, habitat21

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