l8 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
THE WINTER STUDY OF FRUIT TREES. 
By Edward A. Bunyard, F.L.S. 
It is not necessary to enter a plea with Fellows of the Royal Horti- 
cultural Society for the recognition of systematic Pomology, as an 
agreed nomenclature must be the basis of any horticultural work. 
Accurate descriptions of horticultural varieties present great diffi- 
culties, as the differences between two varieties may be so slight as to 
tax severely the power of language to define what is patent to the eye. 
These slight differences, however, are often a means of determining 
other points which may not be immediately apparent. For instance, 
the Kentish and Flemish Cherries are extremely alike in the young 
leaves and shoots and only a difference in the size and pose of the 
stipules enables them to be distinguished. To the " practical man " 
such minute study seems rather trifling, as he thinks of the fruit as the 
only matter which interests him. In the above case the difference in 
the stipules is nevertheless important both in the Nursery and after, 
for the two Cherries ripen at different times and one is self-fertile and 
the other self-sterile. 
In deciduous fruit trees we have the tree before us for fully half 
a year without leaves or flowers, and it is therefore of some interest to 
examine the woody parts of the tree to see if any characters are pre- 
sented which may be of assistance in identifying the varieties. For 
this purpose it is best to take a moderately vigorous one-year shoot 
which has grown in a well-exposed part of the tree. 
The characters of stoutness and slenderness are at once apparent, 
while the degree of curving between the buds (geniculation) is often 
marked, and in some cases the shoot may be almost straight. The 
distance between the buds (internodes) varies somewhat according to 
rapidity of growth, but in many varieties it is always markedly long or 
short. 
Colour is an obvious distinction, but it varies considerably according 
to conditions, and though useful cannot always be relied upon with 
very great certainty. 
In Plums, as is well known, certain varieties have the surface more 
or less covered with downy hairs, and to some extent this is so with 
certain varieties of Cherries. 
The small corky dots (lenticels) which show up so clearly on the 
young shoots are by their shape and quantity often of great value for 
diagnostic purposes. 
To come to the buds themselves — we find in certain varieties of fruits 
differences of size, shape, and angle of insertion. Beneath the bud is 
a projecting structure which supports the leaf stalk in summer and 
which is called the leaf base or " support " ; perhaps the latter term 
