136 SYSTEMATIC POMOLOGY 



ficial method is the one with which he is 

 frequently forced to be content. 



In actual practice the two systems are apt 

 to be somewhat mixed. The mixture occurs 

 because the pomologist seeks to make a 

 natural classification ; but, finding his knowl- 

 edge imperfect and inadequate at certain 

 points, is obliged to proceed without bringing 

 positively all the characters of all the fruits 

 into his scheme. As soon as he classifies 

 anything on the basis of this partial knowl- 

 edge, he is using a few characters, or a single 

 character, in place of the full quota demanded 

 by the perfectly natural method. Thus, we 

 very commonly find the pomological worker 

 piecing out a natural classification with artifi- 

 cial links. 



The ideal system of classification combines 

 both the natural and the artificial methods. 

 If this ideal system were applied to any given 

 material say, to our cultivated grapes we 

 should have two classifications given side by 

 side. In the natural classification all the 

 varieties would be arranged according to their 

 broad, natural relationships. In the arbi- 

 trary classification the same series of varie- 

 ties would be arranged more diagramatically 



