1402 POMOLOGY 



Thinning is usually performed very early in the season, 

 before the vitality of the tree has been taxed. 



6. Spraying of fruit plantations has now come to be a 

 definite ideal. Within the last ten years it has come to 

 be an established orchard practice; no good orchardist 



spraj 

 he is without his tillage t 

 advised, the practice seemed to be so revolutionary that 

 great emphasis had to be laid on its importance in order 

 to induce people to undertake it; therefore it may have 

 been emphasized more than its importance justified. 

 This, however, is necessary with all new enterprises. 

 How and when to spray and what materials to use are 

 matters that will always be discussed, because the prac- 

 tices must vary with the season, the kind of fruit, the 

 geographical region, the insects and fungi to be com- 

 bated. Spraying may not be necessary every year, and 

 certainly not equally necessary in all geographical 

 regions; but the fact that spraying is necessary as a 

 general orchard practice is now completely established. 

 Fig. 1898. See Spmi/iiig. 



7. Perhaps the most gratifying modern development 

 in our pomology is the demand for instruction in funda- 

 mental principles. Years ago, the pomologist was satis- 

 fled if he had definite directions as to how to perform 

 certain labor. He was told what to do. At the present 

 time, the pomologist wants to be told what to think. 

 There seems to be a tendency in horticultural meetings 

 to drop the discussion of the mere details of practice 

 and to give increasingly more attention to the funda- 

 mental reasons and the results that are to be expected 

 from any line of practice. Knowing why a thing should 

 be done and what the results are likely to be, the 

 pomologist can work out the details for himself, for 

 every fruit plantation and every farm is a law unto 

 itself. 



Systematic Pomology.— The classifying and describ- 

 ing of the kinds of fruits is a particular kind of pomolo- 

 gical knowledge that is left to specialists, who are for the 

 most part writers. With the augmentation in numbers of 

 varieties, it becomes increasingly more important that 

 the most careful attention be given to describing them 

 and to assembling them into their natural groups in or- 

 der that similar kinds may be compared and that it may 

 be possible to determine the name by analyzing the spe- 

 cimen. Necessarily, all classificatory schemes for varie- 

 ties are very imperfect since the varieties often differ 

 by very slight characters, and these characters may 

 vary in different regions and under varying conditions. 

 Theoretically the most perfect classification is one 

 that considers characters of flowers as well as of 

 fruits, but such schemes are usually impracticable be- 



POMOLOGY 



The following is John J. Thomas' scheme for c 

 fying peaches: 



Division I. Freestones or Melters. 

 Class I. Flesh pale or iight-cotored. 



Section I. Leaves serrated, without gl.iuds. 

 Sectiou II. Leaves crenate. -ivitli glolii>se glands. 

 Section III. Leaves with reiiiform kIhihI^. 

 Class II. Flesh deep yellow. 



Section I. Leaves erenated, with Klolmst. glumls 

 Section II. Leaves with reniform glands. 

 Division II. Clingstones or Paviks. 

 Class I. Flesh pale or light-colored. 



Section I. Leaves serrated, without glands. 

 Sectiou II. Leaves crenate, with globose glands 

 Section III. Leaves with reniform glands. 

 Class n. Flesh deep yellow. 



Section I. Leaves serrate, without glands. 

 Section II. Lieaves with reniform glands. 

 Class m. Flesh purplish crimson. 

 Section I. Glands reniform. 

 Following is John A. Warder's schenn' for ,Li--i 

 apples, adopted "after a long and cart_'tul r.Mi-i N i 

 and study of this subject." See Fig. IMi'.'. 

 Class I. 0^^(7fc or «(i(, having the axis short.i tii.u, i!,r 



Sul).-,i-i:tiuu 1. Pale or blushed, more or less, but self- 

 colored and not striped. 

 Subsection 2. Striped or splashed. 

 Subsection 3. Russeted. 

 Class n. Conical, tapering decidedly toward the eye. and be- 

 coming ovate when*larger in the middle and tapering to 

 each end, the axil diameter being the shorter. 

 Orders I and II. 

 Sections 1 and 2. 



Subsections 1. 2 and 3. 

 Class III. Round, globular or nearly so. havhii; tin- nxial and 

 transverse diameters about equ;d, th.' imtM.-r ntten 

 shorter by less than one-quarter ot tin- hiii. i Th-- -iuls 

 are often so flattened as to look tnni.,ii.M, win n the 

 fruit appears to be cylindrical or glol.uhir (.l.hit.-. 

 Orders, Sections and Subsections as aliovf. 

 Class IV. Oblong, in which the axis is longer than tlie trans- 

 verse diameter, or appears so. These may also be trun- 

 cate or cylindrical. 

 Orders, Sections and subsections as above. 

 Robert Hogg's classification of Pears ("Fruit Man- 

 ual," 5th ed., London) is as follows: 



A. The length from the base of the stalk to the base of the 

 cells greater than from the base of the cells to the base of the 



cause fruit growers 

 the ^aine time For examples of classificatory schemes 

 thenaler nmj consult the various fruit manuals, but 

 the following examples will show something of the 

 range and method connected with the problem: 



• stalk to the base of 



.. L'.i:;.:!i. ii' ui th'.' base of the stalk of 

 f the eye equal to the lateral diameter. 

 I from the base of the stalk to the base 

 less than from the base of the cells to the 



■n 2. Length from the !., . ■ < , t 

 -•■ lit the eye less than tin -.ii' i ,i -;■;. [im i,r. 

 "11.!. Length from the hu^. ul -.'nv .,ia;k l. 

 i^t' of the eye equal to the lateral diameter, 

 ii^th from the base of the stalk to the has 

 •iU equal to that from the base of the cells t( 



Section 2. Length from the base of the stalk to 

 the base of the eye less than the latenal diameter. 



Section 3. Length from the base of the stalk to 

 the base of the eye equal to the lateral diameter. 



A stable and attractive systematic pomology 

 must give careful attention to the names of va- 

 rieties. In North America much has been done, 

 particularly under the auspices of the Ameri- 

 can Pomological Society, to simplify and cod- 

 ifv the ideas associated with the nomencla- 

 ruits. The latest set of rules for the naming 

 of horticultural varieties is that proposed by the Cor- 

 nell Horticulturists' Lazy Club, and first published in 

 American Gardening Oct. 1.5, 1898 (see also Waugh's 

 pamphlet on "Horticultural Nomenclature"): 



