THE FETJIT. 



193 



bushes or asparagus plants in such localities as the forks of 

 large trees, sometimes at a height of twenty, thirty or more 

 feet above the ground. 



Careful observation of the neighborhood of peach, plum, 

 cherry, or apple trees at the season when the fruit is ripe and 

 again during the following spring, and an examination into 

 the distribution of wild apple or pear trees in pastures where 

 they occur, will help the student who can make such observa- 

 tions to answer the preceding questions. So, too, would an 

 examination of the habits of fruit-eating quadrupeds and of 

 the crop and gizzard of fruit-eating birds during the season 

 when the fruits upon which they feed are ripe. 



231. The Stone-Fruit. — In 

 the peach, apricot, plum, and 

 cherry, the pericarp or wall of 

 the ovary, during the process 

 of ripening, becomes converted 

 into two kinds of tissue, the 

 outer portion pulpy and edible, 

 the inner portion of almost 

 stony hardness. In common 

 language the hardened inner 

 layer of the pericarp, enclos- 

 ing the seed, is called the 

 "stone," Pig. 180, hence the 

 name stone-fruits. 



232. The Pome. — The fruit of the apple, pear, and quince 

 is called a pome. It consists of a several-celled ovary — the 

 seeds and the tough membrane surrounding them in the 

 "core," — enclosed by a fleshy, eatable portion which makes 

 up the main bulk of the fruit and is formed from the much 

 thickened calyx, with sometimes an enlarged receptacle. 



233. The Pepo or Gourd-Fruit. — In the squash, pumpkin, 

 melon, and cucumber, the ripened ovary together with the 



Fig. 180. — Peach. 

 Longitudinal section of fruit. 



