10 July, 1917.] 



Apple Culture in Victoria. 



391 



the five pistil divisions, twenty stamens, five sepals, and five petals 

 were removed from the flowers and arranged as they appear in the 

 illustrations. 



To acquire a thorough practical ;is well a.< the ordinary theoretical 

 knowledge of the botanical construction of the apple tree flower it is 

 essential that every earnest student of horticulture should dismember 

 and decentralize the flowers in this manner. 



Plate 106 shows the petals of the flower of a Gravenstcin tree. 

 These organs of the flowers of the several varieties, like their leaves, 

 vary in size according to the class of soil and other conditions under 

 which the trees are grown. This characteristic is more noticeable 

 in the Gravenstein, however, than in any other variety. The specimens 

 in this plate, like those in Plate 105, arc five-sixths natural size. 



Plate 106. — Large Petals of the Gravenstein. (5-6tlis natural size.) 



A natural-size photograph of a section of an apple blossom, or 

 even an enlargement of same, in which its parts may be lettered in the 

 usual way as a guide to beginners in the study of the botanical con- 

 struction of the flower, is rarely as distinct as a drawing. Conse- 

 quently, the diagram of the longitudinal section in Plate 107 gives a 

 more lucid illustration of the various parts which constitute the flower. 



Not alone should this diagram be consulted in connexion with past 

 references made to the organs of the flower, but it may also be taken 

 in part to illustrate future statements which will have reference mostly 

 to pollination, fertilization, and nomenclature. 



A flower is said to be perfect when it contains all its organs and 

 is normally developed, conditions which almost Invariably characterize 

 apple blossoms. 



