FIG. 15-APPLE DESCRIPTION COMPLETE

The bloom is the waxy, whitish substance covering the outside of the fruit. It is of very doubtful value in distinguishing varieties, being, apparently, more characteristic of the climate in which the fruit is grown. About all that can be said about the bloom in a fruit description is to mention its amount, saying whether it be scant, moderate, or abundant. In order to determine this matter quickly it is usually sufficient to scrape the surface of the fruit lightly with the knife blade. Whatever bloom there may be will be caught up on the steel, and may be estimated at a glance. In certain cases this bloom is peculiarly oily, and this quality is to some degree a mark of the variety. Such observations will be mentioned, of course, in the description.

The skin may be thin or thick, tough or brittle. Rarely it has some taste of its own. There is seldom anything more to be said about it. The flesh is always to be critically described. Its color should first be mentioned. Next its texture is described. This may be hard or soft, coarse or fine grained, crisp, spongy, granular, or woody. The flesh may be dry or juicy. It is customary to speak of pears as melting or sometimes as buttery.

The core may be large or small, and may be open or closed. Dr. Warder, in his descriptions, speaks of cores as "clasping," or as "meeting the eye," depending on their relation to the sunken tube of the calyx; but the writer has been unable to make any practical use of this distinction in fruit descriptions.

The flavor of an apple is one of the qualities by which an experienced pomologist most readily recognizes a variety, but here again he has extreme difficulty to render his expert judgment in intelligible words. For the most part, apples are either sour or sweet, and pears are sweet in various degrees. However, most sour apples are not really very sour, but are more accurately described by the term subacid. The range of flavor would then run something like this: sour, subacid, mild subacid, flat, slightly sweet, sweet. In some varieties there is a certain aromatic quality to the fruit which is very agreeable, interesting, and characteristic. This is very hard to describe, also, but should be mentioned under the general head of flavor. It should be noted that flavor is not a matter of personal judgment. All men ought to agree as to whether a certain fruit is sour, subacid, or sweet. It is not

TREE:

Allitude about 1800

Rank grower, vigorous upright, coming early into bearing, prolifie
Extensively planted in this neighborhood and doing well

GENERAL NOTES:

FIG. 16-PEAR DESCRIPTION COMPLETE. (TYPEWRITTEN TRANSCRIPT)

proper to say that the flavor is good or bad. Good and bad relate to quality, which see.

The quality may be very poor, poor, fair, fair to good, good, very good, or extra. These terms are all relative, and all express a personal judgment. Men may honestly disagree as to quality. Some persons say that Kieffer pear is good, while others rate Howell as only fair to good.

The season stands for that period when the fruit is really ready for table. Of course, a Roxbury Russet or a Willow Twig is mature (ripe) when it is picked from the tree in October, but it is not in season until it is at its best condition for use-along in April or May following. It is often very difficult, with a sample of fruit in hand, to determine what its proper season is. Usually it is necessary to have considerable experience with the variety -grown and ripened under varying conditions, and kept in different kinds of storage— before one can decide just what its proper classification is. Of course, with summer fruits there is little or no trouble of this sort.