24 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 208. 



The Blade. 



Size. — Coming now to the blade we find the most dependable characters 

 for variety identification. Let us first consider the size of the leaf blade. 

 This, of course, varies considerably with the vigor of the tree. Trees in a 

 sod orchard making little growth will have much smaller leaves than will 

 the same variety gro%\-ing under cultivation and making a vigorous growth. 

 Leaves well exposed to the sun will be smaller than those growing in shade, 

 as in the interior of the tree. With these reservations in mind, we may saj^ 

 the Jonathan (Fig. 17) has a small leaf, while Rhode Island Greening 

 (Fig. 4) and King (Fig. 24) have large leaves; Wealthy (Fig. 7) is a little 

 smaller than Baldwin (Fig. 8) ; and Mcintosh (Fig. 3) a little larger than 

 Wolf River (Fig. 12). 



Shape. — Next we may consider the shape or outline of the leaf. This 

 may vary in different varieties in two ways: in relative length and width, 

 and in the \A'idth of the base and apex. Winter Banana (Fig. 10) is rela- 

 tively long and narrow, while Bald\Wn (Fig. 8) is relatively short and 

 broad. An example of the second is found in comparing Wolf River (Fig. 

 12), which is narrow at the base and apex, with Mcintosh (Fig. 3), which 

 is broad at the base and apex. This difference is especially valuable in 

 distinguishing between Oldenburg (Fig. 6) and Wealthy (Fig. 7), the former 

 being much broader at the base and apex than the latter. 



Tip. — The narrow tip called the point is of some value, being larger 

 and more slender in some varieties, usually those with a narrow apex, than 

 in others. 



Folding. — Next we may consider the various t^-pes of bending and 

 folding which may appear in the leaf blade. The blade may be flat as in 

 Gravenstein (Fig. 2) and Wealthy (Fig. 7), or it may be folded to a greater 

 or less degree as in Baldwin (Fig. 8) or Wagener (Fig. 15). The last two 

 varieties exhibit different tjiies of folding, it being broad, saucer-shaped 

 or boat-shaped in the Bald\\in, and much narrower and more pronounced 

 in the Wagener. Leaves of a given variety may show this character in 

 varying degree according to condition; the folding is more pronounced in 

 periods of dry, sunny weather than it is during cloudy or rainy periods. 

 Jonathan, as shown in Fig. 17, shows only moderate folding, but at times 

 it may show very pronounced folding, — sometimes more than any variety 

 illustrated here. Nevertheless, it is a most valuable character in the identi- 

 fication of varieties. The peculiar saucer-shaped folding of the Baldwin 

 is always seen in greater or less degree in a considerable proportion of the 

 single leaves on the tree, and ^^ith one or two other peculiarities will serv^e 

 to distinguish this variety from all others. 



Next we may consider the bending or wa\ing of the leaf edge. Flat 

 leaves do not often show this, although it api:)ears quite noticeably in 

 Oldenburg and Wealthy, neither of which are folded very much. Some 

 folded leaves are very distinctly waved, as Wagener (Fig. 15), Hubbards- 

 ton (Fig. 22) and Tolman (Fig. 27), while others show it but little, as 

 Bald^^in (Fig. 8), Roxburj- Russet (Fig. 9) and Winter Banana (Fig. 10). 



