POMOLOGY IN GENERAL 7 



to be inverted at times ; for a man familiar 

 with fruits will often classify a variety before 

 he knows the name of it. This is because he 

 is acquainted with several other varieties of 

 generally similar characters. But the logical 

 order of systematic study is not disturbed by 

 this apparent exception. In order to classify 

 fruits the pomologist must have several differ- 

 ent varieties to work with, and these must be 

 properly described and named before he can 

 proceed with his classification. 



In classifying varieties in systematic pomol- 

 ogy, as in classifying any other materials in 

 any other objective science, we simply place 

 together those which have the closest re- 

 semblances. Sometimes we assume a limited 

 basis of classification, however, putting to- 

 gether those varieties which agree in certain 

 specified characters, though they may disagree 

 in others quite as important. Thus, most 

 nurserymen in their catalogs classify apples 

 according to season, putting them into three 

 groups summer, fall, and winter varieties. 

 In this case two varieties may be almost ex- 

 actly alike in all their visible characters; but 

 if one ripens a month later than the other, 

 they may go into separate groups. 



