THE HISTORY OF THE CLASSIFICATION OF APPLES. 449 



His further classes, Ribbed, Flat, Long Pointed and Round Apples, 

 are an obvious reversion to an artificial system, and some of these 

 useful but unscientific pigeon-holes have never been abolished, so 

 valuable are they for the bestowal of the "unclassified and late." 



This system was soon overshadowed by the masterly work of 

 Diel (fig. 114), who in 1799 published the first volume of his " Versuch 

 eincr Systematische Beschrcibung in vorhandenen Kernobstsorten." 



Dr. A. F. A. Diel was well- fitted by education to undertake 

 so vast a work. The son of a chemist, he received a University edu- 

 cation and became a Doctor of Medicine in 1780. 



His knowledge of languages was good, and enabled him to corre- 

 spond with the famous pomologists of the day in various countries. 



An appointment as physician at the fashionable watering-place 

 of Ems brought him into touch with many notable people, and he 

 soon attained a high position in his profession. 



Having always been interested in fruit-growing, he started a large 

 nursery in which he gathered together an extraordinary collection of 

 fruit-trees, the study of which resulted in his classic work. Though 

 published in yearly volumes from 1799 to 1832, he had worked out 

 his scheme of classification in advance, and it is described at length 

 in the first volume. It is Diel's special merit that he considered the 

 fruit as a whole, not relying, as did so many of his predecessors, 

 upon external characters only. He thus made a great advance 

 towards a natural system. 



Outline of Diel's System. 



Class I. Ribbed. 



2. 3. 

 Calvilles. Schlotter Apfels. Gulderlings. 



Class II. Rose Apples. 

 1. 2. 

 Tapering or Oblong. Round or flat. 



Class III. Rambours. 

 1. .2. 

 Wide cells. Narrow cells. 



Class IV. Reinettes. 

 1. 2. 3. 4. 



Self-coloured. Red. Grey. Golden. 



Class V. Striped. 

 1. 2. 3. 4. 



Flat. Tapering. Oblong. Round. 



Class VI. Tapering. 

 1. 2. 

 Oblong conical. Tapering. 



Class VII. Flat. 

 1. 2. 

 True flat. Round flat. 



As will be seen from the above outline, Diel owed much to Christ 

 and adopted many of his groups. 



