CHARACTERISTICS OF FRUIT TREES. 



361 



tinct and well defined, they need not be 

 mentioned, having it understood, that where 

 nothing was said of the growth or leaves, 

 &c,, that there was nothing very miirked or 

 peculiar about them. As a specimen of 

 what I should consider a full description in 

 this respect, I will give the characteristics 

 of a few well known varieties taken at ran- 

 dom from my collection, which are worked 

 on the root. But I do it with diffidence, as 

 I have never before tried to make out any 

 such descriptions in full, and therefore could 

 do better doubtless if I had a little more 

 experience in this department. Holland 

 Pippin of the nurseries, Fall Pippin of the 

 books, growth stout and rather crooked, 

 young shoots very dark, leaves large, long 

 and sharply serrated. Yellow Bellflower, 

 shoots light colored, and very slender, leaves 

 rather small, long and roundly serrated, 

 Roxhury Russet, growth very crooked and 

 rather slender in the nursery, shoots, buds, 

 and under side of leaves more downy than 

 common, color of shoots a dark, purplish 

 red, tender on the root. Baldwin, a rapid 

 upright grower, young wood dark red, leaves 

 large and broad, bark apt to burst at the 

 root the first year or two. Rhode Island 

 Greening, a coarse thrifty but sprawling 

 grower, shoots mostly shaded gray, other- 

 wise a purplish red, leaves sharply serrated, 

 tender on the root. Detroit Red, a mode- 

 rate grower and very upright, shoots stiff 

 and very dark, leaves thick and stiff, serra- 

 tures shallow and not sharp, very hardy. 

 Blue Pearmain, a slow, stiff grower, young 

 wood very dark, terminal buds large, leaves 

 broad, coarsely serrated, very hardy. 

 Golden Sweet, a thrifty stocky grower, but 

 very crooked and sprawling, young wood 

 dark purplish red, buds very large, leaves 

 roundish, serratures fine and sharp, very 

 hardy, Talman )S'j(;ee<, growth rapid, strong 

 and rather upright, young wood dark, leaves 



46 



long, expanded and roundly serrated, hardy 

 on the root. F. K. Phoenix. 



DeCavan, Wisconsin, Dec. 22, 1846. 



Remarks. — We agree most heartily with 

 Mr, Phoenix, as to the importance of a 

 greater attention, in pomological works, to 

 the characteristics of fruit trees as exhibited 

 in the growth, habit, and foliage of the dif- 

 ferent varieties. The subject is by no 

 means new to us, and has occupied our at- 

 tention more or less for a long time, but it 

 is attended with difficulties much greater 

 than would at first be supposed. 



With Mr. Thomas' opinion, above alluded 

 to, we fully coincide. We have, ever since 

 we can remember any individual object, 

 been in daily familiarity with hundreds 

 of varieties of trees and plants, and we 

 are very confident that there are many 

 shades of character in varieties, which are 

 easily recognized by the practiced eye, but 

 which it would puzzle the nicest critic to 

 describe in words. Do not, indeed, the Rose 

 and Dahlia catalogues of florists and plant 

 growers, daily prove this ? Even in Eng- 

 land, where horticulture is most perfected, 

 the same new variety of flower is not un- 

 frequently described by various persons, 

 advertising it for sale, as possessing shades 

 of color quite dissimilar to each other. 



There is another fact to be contended 

 with, as regards general habit of growth in 

 fruit trees. This is the effect of different 

 soils in changing or modifying the character 

 of varieties in this respect. A practiced 

 grower of trees may be perfectly familiar 

 with an hundred varieties of fruit in his 

 own soil, so that he can at once distinguish 

 them, simply at a glance at the foliasfe, 

 color of the wood, and habit of growth ; 

 and yet if he is taken into a nursery of 30ung 

 trees, five hundred miles distant, growing 

 on soil of an opposite character to his own, 



