TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING FRUITS. 271 



The texture may be fine, granular, coarse, gritty, fibrous, 

 tough, crisp, or tender. 



THE FLAVOR may be sweet, neutral, slightly sub-add or mild 

 sub-acid, sub-acid, add, very add, or austere; aromatic or spicy ; 

 perfumed, or possessing odor, and with more or less of a 

 shade of musk ; astringent, usually a defect, but sometimes an 

 excellent quality, if in a very minute proportion; rough, 

 astringent and austere ; vinous, rich, high-flavored, and rather 

 acid ; sugary, or saccharine, sometimes nearly sweet, possessing 

 the qualities of sugar, which may be mixed with acid. 



THE QUALITY is designated by first, second, and third rates: 

 and fruits perfectly worthless by still lower grades. A second- 

 rate fruit, to be worthy of cultivation, must possess other 

 good qualities in a high degree, as hardiness, productiveness, 

 fair appearance, etc. Very few fruits as low as third rate, 

 can ever be worth retaining, and only for extreme earliness 

 or other uncommon quality. Fruits that possess desirable 

 qualities are usually designated by three degrees of flavor; 

 the lowest, including the best of second-rate fruits, or " good 

 second rate," are termed good; the lower grade of first-rate 

 fruits are termed very good, or fine; and the highest quality 

 of all are best, very fine, or excellent. Examples Maiden's 

 Blush apple, Napoleon pear, Lombard plum, and Crawford's 

 Early peach, are good; Rhode Island Greening, Bartlett pear, 

 Graffion or Bigarreau cherry, and Red Gage plum, are very 

 good or fine; and Swaar apple, Seckel pear, Downton cherry, 

 and Green Gage plum, are excellent or best. 



