32 SYSTEMATIC POMOLOGY. 



Stem. This is sometimes a constant mark, but is often variable. 

 When reaching to the general curvature of the fruit it is medium; 

 when below this outline, short; when extending out beyond, long. 

 It may be stout or slender; straight or curved, rarely fleshy or knobbed. 

 The color is usually green or brown, alone or in combination, some- 

 times yellow and somewhat red; as means of identification the color 

 of the stem is not reliable. 



Cavity. This is the depression in which the stem is inserted, and 

 may be wide, deep, shallow, regular, irregular, wavy, uneven, or folded. 

 In a few varieties the cavity is nearly or quite filled up, and is then 

 termed flat. It is obtuse when blunt or rounded at bottom ; acute when 

 ending in a sharp point ; acuminate or funnel-shaped, when terminat- 

 ing in a long-drawn-out taper, which usually crowds closely the 

 lower part of the stem; the stem is then sometimes termed deeply 

 inserted. 



When lipped, part of the flesh crowds up against the stem as in 

 Roman Stem, Swaar, and Pryor Red. The color may be green or 

 russeted. When the russet extends out in ray-like lines it is termed 

 stellate or radiating russet. 



Basin. This is the depression at the apex, crown, or " blossom- 

 end." It should be carefully distinguished from the base, which 

 means the stem-end, carrying out the thought that the foundation or 

 source of the fruit is at the stem. Descriptions generally should read 

 from the stem outward from base to apex. The basin may be flat, 

 very shallow, shallow, medium or deeper, narrow or wide; abrupt when 

 the slope is steep; smooth, regular, or even when not furrowed, and so 

 regular and symmetrical that the form could be turned in a lathe; 

 cup-shaped when the slope is nearly perpendicular; angular, with 

 several corners; wavy, with gentle and irregular undulations; fur- 

 rowed, with more regular undulations; wrinkled, with small irregular 

 undulations; corrugated, with larger irregular ridges; plaited, with small, 

 straight, regular ridges ; ribbed, with larger obtuse or rounded ridges : 

 the bottom may have small isolated prominences. The rim of the 

 basin may be sharp or rounded broadly, or may be smooth or ribbed. 

 Core. When an apple is cut in halves crosswise the core is seen 

 in the centre, consisting normally of five cells of tough parchment-like 

 texture containing the seeds and surrounded by flesh. Outside of this 

 is the core-outline or boundary, consisting of ten fibro-vascular bun- 

 dles, which, carrying the nutriment, emerge from the stem and branch 



