490 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



ter or wax casts of the fruit, made at difierent stages of maturity, are 

 important, as they accurately preserve the size and form and a record of 

 the changes during growth. A mold in plaster of Paris can be made 

 of most fruits with comi^arative ease, and the resulting cast can be 

 colored to life or not, at the discretion of the curator. For many 

 varieties of orchard fruits a record of the successive stages of growth 

 is of especial value, as for example for peaches, some varieties of which 

 change form and size remarkably in the last week of maturity. In 

 like manner casts may be made of the roots for root crops, and also 

 in other cases. In some instances specimens of the plants, fruits, and 

 roots may be preserved in alcohol, thus rendering them available for 

 study. 



Photography is of the utmost value, and should be employed freely. 

 The plants should be photographed while growing, and at difierent 

 periods of growth, particularly those individuals afterwards to be 

 pressed for the herbarium. Fruit trees may be photographed in the 

 nursery rows when one or two years old, and afterwards in the orchard, 

 both before reaching a fruiting age, and later to show the change in 

 form produced by fruit bearing. Frequently the growing fruit may be 

 photographed to show the manner of growth and relation to the i)lant 

 bearing it, and views may also be made of the fruit cut transversely and 

 longitudinally to show its structure, which is so frequently a charac- 

 teristic point. When advantageous and possible to do so, color sketches 

 may be made, and a point to be carefully observed is the taking of 

 coiiious notes during the growing season, and particularly concerning 

 the time of blooming and fruiting. 



By the employment of such methods and the preservation of material 

 in this manner accurate identihcations can be made, an absolute record 

 kept of progress toward improvement, and variations noted for study 

 and experiment. If the collector keeps steadily in view the main 

 object of his work, which is to obtain a permanent and visible record 

 of the different forms of cultivated plants that may lead to the dis- 

 covery of some improved system of classification or some general prin- 

 ciples governing improvement of varieties, he will not only have much 

 greater satisfactiou in his work than usually attends the testing and 

 identification of varieties, but will also help to lift the varietal work of 

 the horticulturist from its present dead level of routine and empiricism. 



