X.] 



THE INVENTORY OF FRUITS. 



221 



standard of excellence in quality for dessert is high, 

 and only the very choicest varieties reach figures 9 and 

 10. It therefore offers an opportunity for the selection 

 of extreme types, and the elimination of all such inter- 

 mediate ones as would be likely to complicate and 

 obscure the results. It does not matter if Mr. Lyon'» 

 judgment in certain cases differs from yours or mine ; 

 the catalogue is all the more valuable for having been 

 prepared by one man, because it insures uniformity of 

 judgment. The catalogue is also extensive enough to 

 afford a safe basis of estimate : it contains two hundred 

 and nineteen varieties of apples, seventeen of black- 

 berries, fifty -two of cherries, sixteen of currants and 

 gooseberries, forty -seven of grapes, seventy of peaches, 

 sixty -three of pears, thirty -four of plums, thirty of 

 raspberries, and sixty -one of strawberries. And per- 

 sonally I am particularly glad of the opportunity to use 

 this information, because it relieves me at once from 

 any charge of bias in the collection of facts. The fol- 

 lowing lists contain all the varieties which rank 9 and 

 10 for dessert : 



