Transactions of the Prussian Gardening Society. 445 



introduced into culture, in Germany as well as in England, the 

 difficulties of this subject may easily be conceived. It is easy 

 to class, or throw into groups, any given number of apples or 

 pears ; but, having done this, to take any one sort from the 

 group, and to be able to recognise it under any circumstances 

 in which it may be found in a fruit-room or orchard, is a 

 matter of such difficulty, that we have little hesitation in 

 stating it to be impracticable. Fruits of any one particular 

 variety of apple, for example, are liable to so many variations 

 in size, colour, shape, flavour, time of ripening, and of keeping, 

 from circumstances of culture, situation, and season, that 

 if any one of these properties were to be taken as a foundation 

 for classification, there would be no end to the number of sorts 

 that might be produced from a single tree. To know or de- 

 scribe any one variety, therefore, it is necessary not only to be 

 acquainted with the fruit in all its different stages, but with the 

 tree in all its different states of growth, from budding to set- 

 ting the fruit, and from infancy to maturity. In fact, to know 

 any one fruit, it is necessary to know all the circumstances 

 connected with it, and the tree on which it grows. That it is 

 practicable to model, figure, and describe a number of fruits 

 that have strongly marked characters, so as they may be 

 known by those who have never seen the originals, we be- 

 lieve ; but, that with the greater number of sorts this is 

 impossible, we are firmly persuaded. All that can be done, 

 and indeed all that is necessary for the purposes of science 

 and utility, is to bring all the sorts, or reputed sorts, of a 

 country together in one garden, examine there the trees and 

 their fruits in every stage of their growth and keeping, de- 

 termine what is distinct and valuable, and issue the best sorts 

 to the nurserymen. 



The two most scientific German writers on the classification 

 of fruits, are Manger (Anlcit. zu e. Systemat. Pomol.) and Diel. 

 The first takes form as the foundation of his arrangement ; the 

 second takes, jointly, the quality of the fruit and the peculiari- 

 ties of the tree. DiePs system is, in our opinion, decidedly 

 the best ; in short, it is in pomology what the natural system 

 is in botany. 



30. An Opinion on the foregoing Treatise. By Mr. Schulz, Direc- 

 tor of the Royal Garden at Sans-Souci. 



Mr. Schulz gives the preference to the system of Manger, 

 which, he says, has prevailed in all the Prussian States for the 

 last forty years, and which he has adopted in an extensive 

 correspondence for thirty-three years. The " Pomologist " 



