APRIL 



CLASSIFICATION OF APPLES. 



With the great increase of varieties that are cultivated in the nurseries 

 and planted in the orchards, and with the extended length of the fruit-lists 

 discussed at the pomological gatherings of our country, it is strange that 

 none of the savans and teachers of the art have yet attempted to give us a 

 philosophical classification. Some arrangement would appear absolutely 

 necessary ; and one American writer, J. J. Thomas, has essayed to group 

 the fruits he describes in a systematic way. 



When attempting to analyze a list of some thousand names of varieties 

 of apples which had been collected from the writings of pomologists, the 

 catalogues of nurserymen, and from various other sources, the necessity 

 for a classification was most fully realized. 



European authors were consulted to see what they had provided in the 

 way of a classification that might be adapted to our own country. Several 

 formulae were found ; but they were all too complex in their arrangements 

 to suit the simple tastes of an American. 



After continued study of the different methods proposed, and of the dis- 

 tinctive characters that were observed to be most permanent, I have ven- 



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