408 Report of toe Department of Horticulture of the 



Form. — The third column gives the form of fruit in varieties. 

 An especial attempt has been made to make as accurate a pen 

 picture of the form of apples as can be made in an abbreviated 

 description under the belief that form as compared with size and 

 color in giving apples handsome appearance is usually underrated. 

 The mould in which it is cast very often determines the attractive- 

 ness of an apple to the prospective consumer. To use this catalog 

 intelligently, then, the reader must have in his mind the exact 

 form for which each abbreviation in the third column stands. 



Size. — In the fourth column the size of varieties is indicated. 

 In the eye of the average person, size is esteemed about the highest 

 quality a fruit may possess. Large size is distinctly meritorious 

 in culinary apples, saving waste in paring and coring, but for 

 dessert the medium sized fruit should be preferred — mere size is 

 about the least needed quality. This distinction between culinary 

 and dessert apples should be kept in mind in using this catalog. It 

 should be remembered, too, that quality is in no way correlated 

 with size in a variety though it may be in individuals, as when 

 undue size has been brought about by irrigation, rich soil, or 

 girdling, in all of which cases large size is accompanied by low 

 quality. 



Color. — The abbreviations in column five give as accurately as 

 possible the color of varieties. This character is of utmost im- 

 portance in identifying varieties but does not, as many appear to 

 think, indicate in the least the quality of the fruit — color and 

 quality are not correlated. Connoisseurs find yellow, green or 

 russet apples quite as high in quality as the red sorts. The 

 average person, personification of the consumer, makes a fetish 

 of red, the more brilliant the better, and this must be taken in 

 account in choosing color, paradoxical though it is that while ap- 

 ples are grown to eat we grow that which is scarcely fit to eat 

 provided only that it have brilliant color. In studying this char- 

 acter, keep in mind that color is much influenced by environment, 

 especially by soil and sunshine. 



