Fruit Nomenclature. 749 



FRUIT NOMENCLATURE. 



By J. Knight. 



The committee representative of the various states appointed to 

 revise the nomenclature of apples and pears met at Hobart in April 

 last, and carried out the work entrusted to them. 



The display of apples made at the show of the Council of Agriculture 

 was an excellent one, but pears were somewhat deficient. As to 

 other fruits few or none were displayed. Preserves were not exhib- 

 ited, and the exhibition may be regarded as an apple show only, and 

 in this respect there can be no doubt as to its being satisfactory. 

 The general appearance of the apples went far to show that Tas- 

 mauians had nothing to fear from the neighboring states in its export 

 trade in this product. 



The method adopted by the committee was to check the local 

 name or that under which the fruit was exhibited, with that recog- 

 nized by the members of the committee, but something more is 

 necessary to make this work complete, as fruits vary considerably 

 when grown under differing conditions, and mistakes are almost 

 certain to occur when the selection is confined to a few specimens 

 picked for show purposes, such as those at the Hobart show. 



This work should be undertaken in a more thorough manner, and 

 a small committee formed in each State, by which specimens of the 

 various kinds and varieties of fruits could be collected and described, 

 and a comparison made with those produced in other states, when a 

 general description could be given, enabling ready identification of 

 any specimen to be made. 



Amongst the members of the committee there was a general ex- 

 pression of regret that this work of fixing the nomenclature of fruits 

 was not taken up from a national point of view, and a recognized 

 standard fixed for all States. The present system of shipping the 

 same varieties of fruits under various names is confusing, not only to 

 the export trade but also to the nurserymen who have to supply trees. 

 Endless confusion results as the grower markets the fruit under the 

 name of the trees which were ordered, and serious disappointment is 

 met with in finding, after years of waiting, that the produce was not 

 what was intended. 



It was considered advisable that each State should collect specimens 

 of typical fruits with written descriptions of each, and that these 

 should be compiled by an inter-state committee, so that, accompanied 

 by suitably colored illustrations, a standard work would be formed 

 suitable for all states. It was suggested that if the Agricultural 

 Departments of the States were to undertake this work the matter 

 could be first utilized for the various Journals and supplied to the 

 public in numbers as published. It was thought by this means much 

 of the confusion now met with would be avoided and the fruit 

 industry improved. 



