PHENOLOGICAL RECORDS. 53 



Several sorts rated as 2 or 3 in the sections in which they are grown 

 appear to possess sufficient merit for their season of ripening to war- 

 rant a more general planting of them. The more important of these 

 varieties are Bachelor Blush, Celestia, English Codlin, Oldenburg, 

 Primate, Roadstown, Smokehouse, and Wealthy. 



In the discussion of varieties a number of sorts are mentioned 

 which appear to be promising, but which are not sufficiently well 

 known in these sections for them to have any particular rating in 

 comparison with other varieties. A number of varieties are also 

 included in the varietal discussion which are not in cultivation in any 

 section of this region so far as is known, but which are sufficiently 

 promising in other sections to suggest the probability of their being 

 successfully grown in this region. These two groups of varieties 

 comprise the following: Coffman, Cross, Dawes, Early Cooper, 

 Glowing Coal, Hawthornden, Kane, Muster, Sandbrook, Summer 

 Extra, Summer King, Thaler, Townsend, and Trenton Early. 



PHENOLOGICAL RECORDS. 

 CHARACTER OF DATA. 



Exact dates of the blossoming of varieties, the opening of the 

 leaves, the ripening periods of the fruit, and its keeping qualities in 

 different sections furnish valuable means for studying the adapta- 

 bility of varieties when such data are accompanied by sufficient 

 information concerning the age and condition of the trees or plants 

 in question and the conditions under which they are grown. The 

 latter should include climatological data. 



Information regarding environment is essential to a correct inter- 

 pretation of the varietal data just mentioned and also in order to 

 make the data from one section fully comparable with those from 

 another. The correlation of climatic and varietal data constitutes 

 one feature of the science of phenology (a contraction of the word 

 phenomenology). This science treats of the relationships of local 

 climatic conditions and the periodical recurrence of the phenomena 

 of plant life or, in a broader sense, of all living things, both plants 

 and animals. 



The phenological data presented in Table IV, relating to apples in 

 New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and North Carolina, 

 recorded under the direction of the Bureau of Plant Industry by 

 a large number of fruit growers located in different sections of these 

 States, are appended for the purpose not only of disseminating the 

 specific varietal information which has thus been recorded, but also 

 because such data make possible comparisons with other sections 

 from which important deductions may be made. 



That these comparisons and deductions may be as complete and 

 far-reaching as possible, the important varieties of apples of all 



194 



