THE APPLE. 25 



lows: Form: 1, round or oblate; 2, conical or ovate. Color: 1, pale; 

 2, colored; 3, striped and russet. 



The four color divisions are denned as follows : 1, Pale: a uniform 

 color of yellow or green, notwithstanding it may be faintly tinged on 

 the sun side with orange or pale red. 2, Striped: when the only addi- 

 tional color to that of the ground-color consists of distinct red stripes 

 without any ground-color of red. 3, Colored: when the skin is wholly 

 or partially a decided red, and this may be accompanied with stripes 

 or with some russet. 4, Russet: that in which a russet coat prevails. 

 When a russet coat has a brown or red cheek the fruit is not on that 

 account to be classed in the colored class. 



This makes possible a total of 1536 subdivisions. In the smallest 

 groups the season of ripening is given as a further help to direct refer- 

 ence to the appropriate description. 



THE ALPHABETICAL ARRANGEMENT. 



1872. Charles Downing, in his Second Revision of " Fruits and 

 Fruit-trees of America," abandoned the arrangement of fruits by 

 classes and periods of ripening, stating his reasons as follows: 



" The distinctive characters of fruits have, during the past quarter 

 of a century, become so much intermingled and hybridized that, 

 after carefully studying them, and comparing them with the orders 

 of classification adopted by authors, we have come to the conclusion 

 that no definite order can safely be made to embrace them. Forms, 

 colors, growths, and periods of ripening are so much interwoven 

 and distributed as to defy all arbitrary rules of classification, and 

 hence we have without hesitation abandoned it entirely, substituting 

 in our work the simple order of the alphabet as confined to names, 

 believing such course will prove the most available and useful." 



OTHER SYSTEMS. 



The available space will not permit of a fuller discussion of the 

 very numerous and elaborate systems of classification proposed by 

 European pomologists. Those already given will indicate the leading 

 ones. It will be noted that even in the most complete natural sys- 

 tems several classes, based mainly on artificial external characters, 

 are necessary to provide a place for many varieties not readily classified 

 otherwise. 



