324 THE APPLE CULTURIST. 



Endocarp, the inner coating of the brown integument of an apple-seed. It also 

 signifies the entire brown shell of an apple-seed. If we speak with scientific ac- 

 curacy, the outer coat of the brown shell of an apple-seed signifies the exocarp, 

 and the inner lining the endocarp. Endocarp signifies, also, the putamen, or the 

 brown shell of a chestnut, and the stony shell of a peach, plum, and cherry. 

 Epicarp, the skin or peeling of an apple, which is a kind of epidermis. 

 Epidermis. The epidermis of a person's skin is the thin, insensible portion of 

 the cuticle the scarf-skin ; also the dry, shaggy part of the bark of an apple-tree. 

 The epidermis covers every part of the tree that is exposed to the air, except the 

 stigma of the blossom and the spongioles of the roots. The epidermis of the ap- 

 ple-leaf consists of the transparent skin, which seems like an elastic film of glass 

 spread evenly over the surface. The very thin external covering of apples is the 

 epidermis of the fruit. 



Fie. 155. Epiphyte, or Epiphytes, plants which grow on other plants, but which 

 do not penetrate the living substance of the plant that supports them, to 

 absorb any of the juices. Lichens or moss on the bark of an old apple- 

 tree may properly be called Epiphytes, as the growing parts are supported 

 by the dead bark of the tree. 



Erect, when applied to shoots or branches of apple-trees, has refer- 

 ence to all those limbs shooting upward, between an angle of forty-five 

 degrees and a perpendicular at the central stem of the tree. The branch- 

 es of many varieties of pears, and some apples, grow erect. Fig. 155 

 shows erect branches. 

 Exogenous, growing on the outside, like an apple-tree, by adding an- 



nually one concentric layer of new wood beneath the bark. 



Fecundation, impregnation ; the fertilization of a blossom by the union 

 of the pollen with the stigma. 



Filament, that part of the stamen of a flower which supports the anther. 

 Fissure, a slit, crack, or narrow opening. 



Foliage, the leaves of a tree, or the leaves and blossoms. Many reputed- 

 rances, jy intelligent pomologists snyfoilage for foliage. 



Free, not adhering firmly to another part, as a peach is called a t; free-stone" 

 when it is not a " cling-stone," adhering firmly to the pit. 



Free-stocks. Apple-seedlings are denominated free, or free-stocks, to distinguish 

 them from the dicarf, or Douciu, and Paradise stocks, and from trees that have 

 been produced by root-grafting. In other words, an apple-tree that sprang from 

 a seed is & free-stock. If produced in any other way, it is not a free-stock. 



Fructification, the flower and fruit, with their parts, consisting of the calyx or 

 empalement, the corolla or petals, the stamens and the pistil, which belong to the 

 flower, the pericarp and seeds, which pertain to the fruit, and the receptacle, or 

 base, on which other parts are seated : the act of fructifying, or maturing fruit. 



Fruit. In the common acceptation of the term, the word fruit means the edible 

 portion of apples, pears the fleshy part, or the pericarp. But, botanically speak- 

 ing, fruit signifies the seeds of a turnip, the seeds of an apple, and the kernels con- 

 taining the germ within the hard shell or pit of a peach or plum. The fruit of 

 the potato consists of the small seeds in the balls which grow on the extremities 

 of the vines. The fruit of the chestnut-tree is the chestnuts. 



Genus, a group of species which agree with each other in the structure of essen- 

 tial characters of the flower and the fruit. Trees that agree in their flower and 

 fruit, like the apple and the pear, are of the same genus, but of different species. 

 The apple-tree, for example, and pear-tree both belong to the genus Pyrus; but 

 the apple belongs to the species Mains, and the pear to the species Communis. 



Germ, the growing part of the bud : a point ; the miniature apple at the base of 

 a blossom ; sometimes called an embryo ; the rudiment of an apple-tree in the 

 seed of an apple, in an embryotic state. (See Embryo.) 

 Germination, the sprouting and first growth of a seed before the stem has reach- 



