PARADISE APPLE STOCKS, 
369 
VII. Methods of Classification. Useful Characters. 
It was evident that, in order to distinguish individual types with 
any certainty, minute periodical examinations must be made, both 
when the stocks were in full leaf, and also during the dormant season 
when bud and stem characters would become more obvious. Besides 
this, general observations were made as to the various times of bud- 
breaking, leaf -fall, and blossoming (in the case of the Cordons) , and 
as to liability to disease. The main characters taken thus fall into 
two groups, those evident in the dormant season, and those belonging 
to the growing season. These characters are as follow : 
A. The Characters in the Dormant Season.* 
(a) General habit of growth. 
1. Strong or weak, determined by the average length of the 
annual leading shoots. 
2. Stout (rigid) or " whippy " (flexible), largely determined by 
the average circumference of the annual leading shoots. 
3. Degree of vigour, determined by the average number and 
character of annual shoots. 
4. " Clean," i.e. without lateral branches, or " feathered," 
i.e. with branches or spines. " Spines " implies short, 
stiff thorn-like branches. 
(b) Wood. The fruit-grower's term for the surface of the stem 
or branch. The wood described is of one-year growth. 
1. Colour. Relative degrees of colour and shade appear most 
, useful. 
2. Surface. Smooth or " hairy." The term ''pubescent " ap- 
plies to short hairs or " down." 
Shiny or dull : really only another symptom of 
absence or presence of pubescence or the amount 
and quality of it. 
3. Lenticels, i.e. the small whitish spots of various shapes 
found on the surface of the shoot, and serving for the 
admission of air into the stem. Number and conspicuous- 
ness, shape and size. 
4. Internodes, i.e. the length of stem betwixt two nodes. A 
node is the point of insertion of a leaf ; in winter this is 
indicated by a bud, 
(c) Buds. 
1. Size, i.e. length and breadth. 
2. Shape, i.e. outline and apex. 
3. Compactness— the bud-scales on some buds are packed 
tightly (imbricated), of others more loosely, giving a 
ragged appearance. 
* This paragraph serves in place of a glossary for the terms used in describing 
Characters of the Dormant Season (cf. Table III. p. 377). 
vol. xlii. 2 b 
