Among the numerous publications which have taken root in Harvard soil there is one which has perhaps been unequaled in its presentation as well as the unusual nature of its contents. This is a fearless publication. Admitting the difficulty of treating the subject, the last issue of Arnold Arboretum's "Bulletin of Popular Information" throws caution to the winds and breathlessly sails into an abstruse problem which has never in the history of writing been treated so sensitively.

"The Oriental Crab-Apples. It is difficult to write comprehensively about the oriental crabapples; there are so many of them and they are such a varied lot. In Asia the crab-apples behave in somewhat the same bewildering way as do the Hawthorues in this country; taken as a whole they form a complex assemblage, difficult to sort into such conventional pigconholes as species and varicitics. They probably hybridize in nature, they most certainly do in cultivation. Some are low shrubs, others are forest trees. Some bear fruits closely resembling the cultivated apple in size and shape, others have fruits so tiny that one must look closely to see any resemblance to an apple. While the flowers in truth are mainly white or pink, they too may vary, for there are a number of varicties of such a brilliant rosy purple that the colour must be seen to be believed." It is fortunate that this whole issue has been cleared up once and for all.