down in every instance. It is usual in the descriptions given in books and in nurserymen's catalogs to cover this point with relative terms, such as early, midseason, or late. This is necessary in such cases; but when a given sample of fruit is under description, it is better to specify the exact date at which it is found to be ripe. The same description will also show the locality from which the specimens come, and all the data will be given, therefore, for determining whether a variety is really early or late. It is often desirable to know what the season of a variety is more exactly than can be expressed in these loose relative terms. It is often desirable to know the exact succession of varieties within a day or two, and this information can be gained only from the most complete records.

It

There is always a question, of course, as to when a fruit is really ripe, and plums and peaches are often commercially mature long before they are ready to be taken direct to the table for the dessert course at dinner. ought to be assumed, however, that season in the description refers to the time when the fruit is dead ripe and ready to eat, and not to the time when it can be shipped to market.

If the variety is one capable of being picked long before it is ripe, and held in storage or shipped long distances, such valuable and interesting facts should be included under the head of general notes.

These matters will all appear more clear on reference to the accompanying examples of descriptions and description blanks (Figs. 18, 19, 20, and 21).

VI

DESCRIBING STRAWBERRIES

NOT much really good systematic work has been done with strawberries in this country. One might have expected something first-rate in this line, considering the commercial and domestic importance of the strawberry in America, and the very general distribution of the plant from Florida to northern Canada. Many descriptions of varieties have been made and may be consulted in books, bulletins, and catalogs, yet all of them leave much to be desired. No definite and comprehensive form of description seems ever to have come into use, and most of the descriptions which one finds are fragmentary as to qualities named and vague in characterization. From every point of view the strawberry deserves better study at the hands of American pomologists, and it is greatly to be hoped that the present revival of interest in systematic pomology will soon turn attention to this need.

The fruit itself may properly be described first, beginning with the form. The form may be regular or irregular. At the same time it may be conical, oval, spherical, pyriform, or may have some more unusual shape. for which some special descriptive term may be found (see Fig. 22).

The size of the berry should next be given, either relatively, as large, medium, or small, or absolutely, in inches or millimeters.

The calyx may be large or small, and it may separate easily or with difficulty from the fruit. Its segments may be long or short, broad or narrow, or may possibly have other distinctive characters which should be mentioned whenever, in the judgment of the describer, their importance warrants it.

The core of the berry may be hollow, or it may be hard or soft, or it may be characterized simply by being of a color somewhat different from the surrounding flesh.

The texture of a strawberry is a matter of considerable consequence, affecting, as it does, the dessert quality of the fruit, and also the shipping quality. It is hard, however, to describe texture in precise terms. The flesh may be hard or soft, it may be fine-grained