December 29, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



507 









WEEKLY 



CALENDAR. 















Day 



Day 







Average Tempera- 1 E * in m 



Sun 



Snn 



Moon 



Moon 



Moon's 



Clock 



before 



Son. 



Day 



of 

 Mouth 



of 

 Week. 



DEO. 29, 1870— JAN. 4, 1871. 





tore near London. .„ as * 



48 years. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Age. 



Year. 











Day. 



NiRht. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



in. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



Days. 



m. s. 





29 



Th 







43.9 



33.0 



38.5 



20 



9 af 8 56 at 3 



after. 



morn. 



J 



2 18 



363 



80 



F 







44.4 



31.7 



88.1 



17 



9 8 57 8 



30 



15 af 



8 



2 47 



364 



31 



S 







439 



32.4 



S8.2 



15 



9 8 68 3 



47 



22 1 



9 



3 16 



365 



1 



SON 



Sunday after Christmas. 





43.0 



30.3 



8H.6 



12 



8 8 



4 



6 1 



28 2 



10 



3 45 



1 



2 



M 







41.9 



28.9 



35.4 



17 



8 8 



1 4 



27 1 



34 3 



11 



4 13 



2 



S 



Tit 







42.6 



30.0 



SS.3 



19 



8 8 



2 4 



52 1 



40 4 



12 



4 41 



3 



4 



W 







42.2 



28.6 



35.4 



17 



8 8 



3 4 



22 2 



45 5 



13 



5 8 



4 



From observations taken near London dnring 



the last forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week 



is 43.1°, 



and its night 



temperature 30.7°. The greatest heat was 58°, on the 23th, 1853 ; and the lowest cold 11* below zero, oa the 4th, 1867 



. The greatest fall of 



rain was 0.36 inch. 









NAMING FRUITS. 



OTANISTS, in ascertaining the names of 

 plants and flowers, proceed on the principles 

 of a systematic science. Botany has so ar- 

 ranged and classified all her subjects in their 

 minutest order, that by careful study and 

 observation we may trace out for ourselves 

 the correct name of any which may be brought 

 before us, whether we may happen to have 

 seen the plant previously or not. There are 

 the normal conditions of plants and flowers, 

 the genera and species that botany tells us of, which are 

 typical and do not vary. These, when once seen and 

 described, can be at any future time recognised. It re- 

 quires study — profound study, no doubt — but it may be 

 and is accomplished. With the varieties of species there 

 is far more difficulty, and there are few amongst us who 

 will either undertake to name, or expect anyone to know, 

 the given names of mere varieties of either plants or 

 flowers. The Editors of our horticultural journals, who 

 seem to know almost everything, do not attempt much with 

 varieties, excepting in the case of a few easily-defined forms. 

 Pomologists, in naming fruits, have but little to guide 

 them. There is no system yet evolved which has reduced 

 fruits to an order by which their correct names may be 

 ascertained. Pomology is a science, and a most intricate 

 and difficult science, without doubt. It is a science, how- 

 ever, without order, or with but little. It is a science of very 

 close observation and much varied experience — a science, 

 the various bearings of which are much better understood 

 than easy to explain — a science, indeed, the whole super- 

 structure of which each one has to erect for himself by 

 close observation, acquaintance, and hard study. There 

 is no royal road to learning it ; there is no way of becom- 

 ing acquainted with fruits or of knowing them, excepting 

 by seeing them, tasting them, examining, describing, and 

 comparing them for oneself. It is only by the most 

 lengthened and varied experience of each individual sub- 

 ject, close observation, and most retentive memory that 

 pomologists are enabled to determine the names of fruits. 



Numerous and excellent as are our works on fruits, there 

 is none by the aid of which without previous ajquaintauce 

 that we can ascertain the name of a single variety. The 

 best work of the Horticultural Society was its " Catalogue 

 of Fruits " out of perfect chaos. Mr. Thompson did an 

 immense amount of good service by his classification of 

 fruits, so far as it went, and his short descriptive notices 

 of them. Dr. Hogg also, the leading pomologist of the 

 present day, has done, and is doing, much to extend our 

 knowledge of and acquaintance with fruits. His " Fruit 

 Manual " is the very best guide we can have. We are 

 also favoured in various ways by minutely descriptive 

 notices, outlines of the fruits, and even coloured illus- 

 trations, and yet — look at them as we may, study, compare, 

 commit the whole to memory if we can — without the pre- 

 vious acquaintance we can by no means determine the 

 name of a single specimen. It is only by a work of years, 

 by a long and patient study of fruits in all their varied 

 No. 509.— Vol. XIX., New Series 



forms, under all their various circumstances and conditions, 

 that one can gain a true knowledge of fruits and their 

 correct names. 



Take any one class of fruit ; they are mere varieties the 

 one of the other, each possessing its own peculiar and 

 distinctive features and character it may be, but they are 

 inconstant and subject to vary very much under altered 

 conditions of soil, situation, &c. There are other varieties 

 possessing nearly the same characteristics, which also vary 

 so that the two seem to intermingle, and it is almost im- 

 possible to distinguish the one from the other — that is, 

 supposing our observation is limited in extent. The varie- 

 ties may be perfectly distinct and easily recognised, if 

 grown under similar conditions, and when seen in quantity 

 it is also a simple matter to distinguish. Take, as an 

 example, of Apples, the well-known Blenheim Orange, and 

 another Fearn's Pippin : no two Apples in what might be 

 termed their normal condition could be much more dis- 

 tinct, and as we have them described they seem to possess 

 no possible relationship, yet there are grown hundreds of 

 bushels of Blenheim Oranges of the low flat form which 

 it is most difficult to distinguish from Fearn's Pippin. The 

 Blenheim Orange is at times small, flat, highly coloured, 

 and dry ; sometimes it is large, upright or conical, pale, 

 and juicy. The two forms may be found in the same 

 garden, even on the same tree. Sometimes it is the soil, 

 sometimes the season, a little good or bad cultivation, the 

 influence of the stock, or more or less vigour in one branch 

 as compared with another, that will effect all this difference 

 which one who observes alone can tell. There is no book 

 which can afford this information. Given — -a flat form of 

 Blenheim Orange, if the observer has never seen the va- 

 riety in that particular form before, there is no means at 

 his command by which he can ascertain the name. It has 

 simply to be arrived at by reasoning on previous obser- 

 vations and acquaintance, or by a reference to actual 

 specimens. Reference to specimens assists greatly in de- 

 termining, or rather in deciding, the correct names of fruits ; 

 yet if the variety is entirely new to us it is extremely 

 hazardous to identify it by this means alone. 



Fruits, however, have certain normal features which do 

 not alter, or but little. In forming our acquaintance with 

 fruits it is needful to mark these, and so have them well 

 fixed on our minds. ■ 



There are other features which, being affected by culti- 

 vation and other circumstances, vary considerably ; these 

 must be taken into consideration as changeable. If we 

 take Apples and Pears, for example, the parts of the fruit 

 which are fixed in character, and which may be pretty 

 well relied on as distinguishing marks, are the stalk and 

 the eye ; these, then, should always be preserved uninjured. 

 The size of the fruit is affected by cultivation ; the flavour 

 and consistency by the same cause ; the colour by exposure ; 

 and the shape is also at times altered, but more rarely. 

 Some fruits are much more subject to variations than 

 others, some are very uniform, such as the Golden Noble 

 Apple, the one larger than the rest, but no other variation. 

 There is, however, with most fruits some characteristic 

 feature, some little peculiarity which may be noted, and 



No. 1161.— Vol. XLIV., Old ShrtE3. -" 



