Appendix. 487 



and with such common adjectives as spherical, round, short, flat, 

 enable one to designate the form of the more irregular fruits. 



The ends or extremities of fruits are described by technical terms. 

 In pome-like fruits, the depression in the apex (or blossom end) is 

 known as the basin (d, e, Fig. 120). The depression at the base (or 

 stem end) is the cavity (a, b, c, Fig. 120). The basin is broad and 

 deep in e, and small and shallow in d; and it is corrugated or fur- 

 rowed in Fig. 117. The cavity is narrow and deep in a, broad and 

 deep in c, and narrow and shallow in b. In the basin sits the calyx 

 or eye. This calyx is open in e, and closed in d. The stalk or stem 

 is short in a, very short in 6, and long and slender in c. In stone- 

 fruits, the depressions at apex and base are less marked, and the 

 term basin is not used; but cavity is used for the depression about 

 the stem. The longitudinal furrow or depression on the side of a 

 stone-fruit (as of a peach or plum) is known as a suture. 



In describing the color of a fruit, it is customary to assume an 

 under-color or ground-color, which is laid on nearly or quite uni- 

 formly over the entire surface, and over which the markings are dis 

 played. This ground-color is therefore the prevailing tone of yellow 

 or green, or other subdued color, which shows between the spots and 

 streaks, underneath the solid red or purple, and on the uncolored 

 side of the fruit. A fruit is striped when it is marked by broad and 

 more or less definite longitudinal bands; streaked when the markings 

 are very narrow, as in Fig. 115; splashed when the stripes are broken 

 and irregular; mottled when marked by large confluent dots. 



The quality of a fruit is determined by its texture and its flavor. 

 The texture is said to be hard, coarse, gritty, rough, fine-grained, 

 buttery, melting. The flavor is described as poor, good, very good 

 (largely matters of individual taste), sweet, acid or sour, subacid or 

 nourish (that is, only slightly sour), dry, juicy, vinous (with a lively 

 wine-like suggestion), aromatic, and the like. 



The names of varieties should be short and modest; and a name 

 which has once been used should not be used again in the same class 

 of fruit, even though the variety to which it was first applied should 

 have become extinct. All titles, as General, Professor, President, and 

 all extravagant adjectives, as superb, magnificent, grand, should be 

 omitted from the name of the variety. The standard practice in this 

 country is that specified in the rules adopted by the American Pomo- 

 logical Society. Helpful suggestions may also be found in the rules 

 adopted by a committee of horticulturists for the naming of vege- 

 tables, and published in "Annals of Horticulture for 1889." 



