SUMMER HAW (_Cratægus æstivalis_) is a southern species which contributes more or less to the food supply of the people within its range. It is known also as May haw and apple haw. The flowers appear in February and March, are about one inch in diameter, and flushed with red toward the apex. The fruit ripens in May, is bright red, very fragrant, and is from half to three-fourths of an inch in diameter. The flesh is of a pleasant taste, and is gathered in large quantities by country people for making preserves and jelly. It is sold in town and city markets, particularly in New Orleans. The range of this thorn tree is from South Carolina and Florida, to Texas. It attains a height of twenty or thirty feet, and a diameter sometimes as great as eighteen inches. It reaches its largest size in Louisiana and Texas. It grows well on land which may be submerged several weeks in winter. The wood has not been reported for any use. COCKSPUR (_Cratægus crus-galli_) may be taken as the type of more than twenty species of cockspur thorns growing in this country. Its other names are red haw, Newcastle thorn, thorn apple, thorn bush, pin thorn, haw, and hawthorn. It grows southwestward from Canada to Texas, and extends into Florida. The largest trees are twenty-five feet high and a foot in diameter. The fruit is dull red, half inch in diameter, ripens in September and October, and hangs on the branches until late winter. Hogs eat the fruit when they can get it, and boys utilize the small apples as bullets for elder pop guns. The thorns are formidable slender spines from three to eight inches long, strong, and extremely sharp. They were formerly used as pins to close wool sacks in rural carding mills. The many species of cockspur thorns are multiplied by numerous varieties. Fence posts and fuel are cut from the best trunks. PEAR HAW (_Cratægus tomentosa_) is a representative of at least ten species. It is called pear haw without any very satisfactory reason, since the fruit bears little resemblance to pears. It is half an inch in diameter, dull orange red in color, and sweet to the taste, but it is of little value as food. The tree has been occasionally planted for ornament, but never for fruit. The flowers are showy. Trees at their best are fifteen or twenty feet high and five or six inches in diameter. They have few thorns and such as they have are small. The tree’s range extends from New York to Missouri, and along the Appalachian mountains to northern Georgia, and west to Texas and Arkansas. It is known in different parts of its range as black thorn, red haw, pear thorn, white thorn, common thorn, hawthorn, thorn apple, and thorn plum.