Ill 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 



THE fruit is of paramount importance in 

 nearly every case in the description of any 

 pomological variety. It receives, properly, the 

 chief attention. We shall be obliged to go 

 more into detail regarding the methods and 

 the terms for describing the various classes of 

 fruits, but first it may be convenient to dis- 

 pose of sundry matters of a general nature 

 relating to the entire subject. 



The tree or vine or bush or plant on which 

 the fruit grows, though less important from 

 the standpoint of systematic pomology, is evi- 

 dently not to be disregarded. Occasionally, 

 though not usually, the characters of the tree 

 or plant are more striking and easily recogniz- 

 able than those of the fruit. Whether the 

 characters are peculiar or not, something 

 should be said of the tree. 



In speaking of a tree, its form should be 

 described first. This varies so much with 

 different kinds of trees that no convenient set 

 of descriptive terms can be suggested cover- 



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