FORMS OF THE APPLE. 63 



During winter, and early in the spring, the shoots of most trees be- 

 come so much darker than at other times, that it is only practice 

 and by placing the different sorts side by side, that accuracy may be 

 obtained. Skilful culturists will readily distinguish, by a glance at the 

 color of shoots, many of the kinds they cultivate ; but the peculiar 

 cast is hard to describe in words, in the same way that it is impos- 

 sible to describe the hand-writing of an individual, so as to be known 

 from fifty others, although many can, at a glance, know the penman- 

 ship of hundreds of different persons. A few of the most strongly 

 marked cases, however, present peculiarities of color which form use- 

 ful points of distinction. No one for instance, could easily mistake 

 the yellow shoots of the Bartlett and Dix pears, for the dark brown 

 or purple of the Tyson and Forelle ; or the light greenish cast of the 

 Bough and Sine Qua Non apples, for the dark color of the Northern 

 Spy, or dark brown of the Baldwin ; nor the downy or greyish ap- 

 pearance of the Ladies Sweeting and Esopus Spitzenburg, for the 

 clear shining brown of the Gravenstein and Red Astrachan." 



The color of the leaves may sometimes assist in description, as 

 light green in the Yellow Bell-flower and Rambo ; deep green, as in 

 the Rhode Island Greening ; bluish green, as in Peck's Pleasant. 



Forms of the Apple. In these we follow the general impression 

 understood of terms by most horticulturists, and represented by 

 Barry, from whom we extract : 



Round or Roundish (fig. 29,) when the outline is round, or 

 nearly so, the length being about equal to the breadth. 



Flat (fig. 30,) when the ends are compressed, and the width 

 considerably greater than the length. 



Conical (fig 31,) in the form of a cone, tapering from the base 

 to the eye. 



Ovate or Egg-shaped (fig. 32.) 



Oblong (fig. 33,) when the length is considerably greater than 

 the width, and the width about equal at both ends, not tapering, as 

 in the conical. 



In addition to these forms and their various modifications, some 

 varieties are 



