SYSTEMATIC POMOLOGY. 



THE APPLE. 

 PRELIMINARY NOTES. 



A WARM friendship existed for many years between Charles Down- 

 ing and J. L. Budd. By the terms of Mr. Downing's will in 1885 his 

 extensive library of pomological books and original manuscripts was 

 bequeathed to the Horticultural Department of the Iowa Agricultural 

 College, of which Professor Budd was the active head for nearly a 

 quarter of a century. Since the days of the talented brothers, An- 

 drew and Charles Downing, American pomology has far outgrown the 

 capacity of any one man, and the contemplated revision of "Fruits 

 and Fruit Trees of America," that monumental and encyclopedic 

 work of the Downings, will probably never be undertaken, at least as a 

 private enterprise. It is an age of specialties and of manuals devoted 

 to one or two fruits only. However, there appears to be a legitimate 

 field for a manual of moderate dimensions, adapted to the needs of the 

 amateur, fruit-grower, and those desiring to make a beginning in the 

 systematic study of fruits. The publishers of Downing's works wish 

 to supply this demand. Hence this book. 



Professor Budd, my teacher and friend, has asked me to prepare 

 the chapter on apples. An effort has been made to include all the 

 varieties in the recommended list of the American Pomological Soci- 

 ety, together with some of the newer sorts, especially those of special 

 value in the colder regions of the prairie Northwest. Northwestern 

 pomology is as yet in a transition stage, due to the necessity of secur- 

 ing varieties hardier than those commonly grown in the Eastern and 

 Southern States. The historical and introductory notes are largely 



