DESCRIPTION. 11 



environment a variety affects, as; exposure, soil, moisture, 

 climate, etc. The season at which, the fruit matures should 

 always he recorded as well as the length of its keeping time. 



Abbreviations and Signs. — ^Abbreviations and signs are not 

 generally employed in horticultural descriptions, though it 

 seems to the writer that their use could be more general with 

 advantage. In themain the well known botanical signs should 

 be employed, such as those used to indicate the sex of blossoms, 

 the duration of life of a plant, and the subordination of groups. 

 In the latter case it seems important that the exact signs used 

 in botany in subdividing should be employed. These are: 

 § * -}_ ^-f. = ; with the addition of small and capital letters 



and figures to indicate further subdivisions. The use of the 

 interrogation point to express doubt and the exclamation mark 

 to indicate certainty, as followed in botany, would seem a good 

 practice for horticultural descriptions. 



Some of the abbreviations of the names of organs which are 

 common im botanical writings might be employed to advantage 

 in horticulture. These need no explanation even to the most 

 elementary student. 



Essential Chaeactees. — J?he characters drawn from the 

 fruits themselves are the only absolutely necessary ones in a 

 pomological description. The parts and qualities of the fruit 

 are mostly taken up in order beginning with form, size, color, 

 stalk, cavity, calyx, basin, flesh, flavor, etc., for the pomes, and 

 varied to meet the several requirements of other fruits. Besides 

 the characters of the fruits those of the tree, the shoot, the leaf, 

 and the flowers are usually, and of necessity in a full descrip- 

 tion, described. As far as possible only such characters as are 

 permanent and not liable to extreme variation with changes in 



