18G 



joubnaij of hoeticdlture and cottage gabdenek. 



[ March 9, 1876. 



useful as could be desired. In my work on the Apple, which 

 was published five and twenty years ago, I gave a kind of 

 classification to assist students in pomology to ascertain the 

 names of the different varieties ; but it has never served that 

 purpose. Previous to this I had attempted to apply Diel's 

 system and failed. Ever since that time I have been assidu- 

 ously observant of every character in the structure of the Apple 

 which I thought served as a basis for a classification, and at 

 last I fixed upon those which I have accepted as the principles 

 of the new system which I am now about to describe. 



The characters ujion which this system is based are well 

 known, and have been noticed in descriptions of fruit so long 

 ago as by Diel and other German pomologists ; but just as the 

 pre-Linnican botanists observed the stamens and pistils in 

 plants, and entertained certain views with regard to their 

 functions without employing them as bases for classificatiou, 

 so has it been with the pomologists who, while aware of the 

 presence of the characters, have hitherto overlooked them as 

 being applicable to classification. 



For some years past I have endeavoured to apply the cha- 

 racters I have now adopted. The light I had at first was 

 small and dim, but by repeated application to the subject every 

 recurring fruit season I began to see the foundation of what 

 has now grown up to the structure which I now offer to the 

 world. 



My reason for not giving publicity to it before this was that 

 I wished to work it thoroughly before I committed myself to 

 it. To do so I have procured in various years collections of 

 fruits from different parts of the country, from different soils 

 and climates, and also at different seasons of the year, and in 

 every case I was gratified to find that the characters which I 

 observed In each variety of fruit were equally well marked in 

 that variety from whatever district, soil, or climate it came, or 

 at whatever season the examination took place. For instance, 

 Wyken Pippin from Tweedside, from Chiswick, from Sussex, 

 from Worcester, from Somerset, and from Devon invariably 

 presented the same characters of eye open, seed-cells closed, 

 calyx-tube conical, and stamens median. This I merely give 

 as an example, and it is applicable in every case. 



I must remark, however, that in this as in every other 

 classification of natural objects the characters are not always 

 constant, and there are varieties which refuse to submit to any 

 scheme of man's devising. Nature refuses to be bound , and we 

 must adapt our ideas to her laws. In every system it is so, as 

 the botanist well knows ; when he would class plants into those 

 which are hypopynous, perigynous, and epigynous, he finds 

 there are some that reject his inteiiference and assert a double 

 alliance. And so it is with fruits. There are those in which 

 some varieties have Ihe eve open or partially closed, seed-cells 

 of the same character, calyx-tubes in which it is difSeult to 

 determine whether they are conical or funnel-shaped, and sta- 

 mens which waver between a marginal and median position, or 

 a median and a basal. But these are difficulties which are 

 easily got over, as I shall show further on. 



The characters which I have adopted as the basis of this 

 classification are the eye, the seed-cells, the calyx-tube, and 

 the stamens. These supply the primary and most important 

 divisions ; but they may be extended and broken up into fruit 

 round, roundish, or oblate, and fruit conical, oblong, or ovate, 

 and these for convenience may be farther divided into pale, 

 coloured, and russet. I will now treat of the leading cha- 

 racters. 



1. The Eye. — This is the pomological term used to signify 

 what botanists call the' sepals or limb, and mouth of the calyx. 

 In French it is called <eil. 



If we examine a great number of varieties of Apples we find 

 that in some the eye is wide open, and the segments quite re- 



I Pippin, and Court of Wick ; and it is illustrated in the annexed 

 fig. 48. In many cases the segments are erect and spreading 

 or reflexed at the tips, and this form of structure also leaves 

 the eye open though not so much so as in the previous 

 examples. This form is shown in fig. 46. Between the spread- 

 ing and the erect open eye there are many gradations which 

 will be remarked by any observer who examines the different 

 varieties. awy. fi,j!)o gff^fy 



The other form is the closed eye, fig. 47. It wiD be observed 

 in this case that the segments are erect and connivent at the 

 tips, forming a small cone. In some cases of this form of 

 closed eye the tips are spreading; but there is another very 

 distinct form of the closed eye in which the segments are quite 

 flat and convergent, closing in the eye like a trap door in five 

 divisions, as is seen in Trumpington. These two characters of 

 Ete open and Eye closed I propose to employ as my primary 

 divisions. 



2. The Seed-cells. — These constitute what is popularly called 

 the core of the Apple, and contain the seeds or pips. They are 

 usually five, but they vary in number, and are occasionally 



Fig. 49. 



Fig. 47. 



Fig. 48. 



flexed, in some cases 60 maohsoas to be quite flat on the sur'ac 3 

 of the fruit. This is very apparent in Blenheim Pippin, Wyktn 



Fig. 49. 



Fig. 50. 



three, four, and even six. They differ very much in structure, 

 and are either open to the axis of the fruit or closed ; and 

 between the closed and the wide-open cells there are as many 

 gradations as in the closed and open eye. Fig. 51 represents 

 perfectly closed cells; fig. 50 those that are open, and fig. 49 

 those that are wide open. In the last all the Godlins are to 

 be found, and varieties having the Codlin character. 



The Seed-cells form the second great divisions of my system, 

 which are distinguished as Cells open and Cells closed. 



3. The Calyx-tuhe.—ln making a longitudinal section of an 

 Apple in a line through the centre of the eye to the stalk a 

 more or less deep cavity will be observed under the segments 



Fig. 51. 



Fig. 52. 



of the eye and between them and the core. This is caUed the 

 Calyx-tube, or Kelchrohrc of the Germans. It is of very varied 

 form, but all of these are modifications of two, or perhaps 

 three, which may be regarded as distinct, and these I have 

 called the conical and the funnel-shaped. As in the cases of 

 the open and the closed eye and the open and closed cells 

 these run into one another, and there are instances in which 



z"^'^^., 



Fig. 53. 



Fig. 54. 



it is difficult to distinguish to which of them the individual 

 belongs. Figs. 52, .53, 54, 55, 56, and 57 are illustrations of 

 the conical tube, some being wide and deep and others narrow 

 and short. Figs 58, 5!l, 60, 61, and 62 represent the various 



