ing characters, we are engaged in descriptive pomology.

In

Nomenclature is the science of names. a slightly different sense the same word applies to the problem of determining the correct names for given varieties. This latter sense is the one in which the term nomenclature is more frequently used by pomologists. (By the way, this word "nomenclature" is accented on the first and third syllables, and not on the second syllable, as one often hears it.)

As soon as we have made a description of a specimen or sample of fruit, we inquire for the name. But the description, written or mental, must come first. We must have some knowledge of the characters of the fruit as a basis for further work. Expert pomologists are often able to name fruits at a glance; but this is because the characters are already well pictured in their minds, and they are able to call up these mental descriptions instantly. In many other cases the discovery of the correct name for a variety is a difficult, laborious, and uncertain undertaking.

When a variety is known and named in some way we may proceed to its classification. It is true that this order of procedure seems

to be inverted at times; for a man familiar with fruits will often classify a variety before he knows the name of it. This is because he is acquainted with several other varieties of generally similar characters. But the logical order of systematic study is not disturbed by this apparent exception. In order to classify fruits the pomologist must have several different varieties to work with, and these must be properly described and named before he can proceed with his classification.

In classifying varieties in systematic pomology, as in classifying any other materials in any other objective science, we simply place together those which have the closest resemblances. Sometimes we assume a limited basis of classification, however, putting together those varieties which agree in certain specified characters, though they may disagree in others quite as important. Thus, most nurserymen in their catalogs classify apples according to season, putting them into three groups—summer, fall, and winter varieties. In this case two varieties may be almost exactly alike in all their visible characters; but if one ripens a month later than the other, they may go into separate groups.

II

MAKING AND FILING DESCRIPTIONS

THE first step in the study of a given sample of fruit is to make a suitable description. The description may be fully written out in proper form, or it may be merely a brief mental inventory of the characters of the fruit. In any case, however, the characters of the fruit must be recognized before the sample can be named or classified.

The beginner will find the preparation of full, accurate formal descriptions a most valuable exercise, if, indeed, he do not find it indispensable to further study. Any one who is ambitious to become a fruit expert must take long and thorough training in descriptive pomology.

This work of description will be much facilitated and the results will be greatly improved if some proper outline is followed. Doubtless the best and most convenient way is to have a printed blank for the purpose. Those shown in the following chapters (considerably reduced in size) have been found by

experience to answer the requirements under most circumstances. Any one beginning a new set of descriptions for himself, however, ought to consider these designs carefully from all points of view to see if particular modifications may not improve these outlines for his special purposes.

Aside from the desirability of making these particular adaptations of descriptive forms to special needs, it should be borne in mind by every working pomologist that there is, on the contrary, a certain advantage in uniformity. If the various pomologists in different parts of the country all use practically the same descriptive form for apples, for instance, then the descriptions made by each one may circulate readily with the others. Different descriptions of the same varieties may be compared with ease and to some result. Descriptions published by one man are readily intelligible to another, because they are rendered in the same terms. The advantages which belong so conspicuously to a uniform system of nomenclature are to be found also in a uniform method of description. It is a noteworthy mark of our pomological advance and a gratifying promise for the future that

many of the leading American pomologists are using practically the same descriptive forms.

The descriptive blanks now most in use measure either 5x8 or 51⁄2 x 81⁄2 inches. A few men are using sheets 7 x 9 inches. The larger sizes have the important advantage of greater space. One frequently finds himself crowded for room when using one of the smaller sizes. The smaller sheets are easier to handle, however, particularly when it comes to filing; and when the pomologist finds one sheet too small to hold a description, it is an easy matter to continue the notes on a second sheet.

When the description blanks are made up into book form to be carried into the field, it is especially handy to have them small enough so that the note-book may be managed easily in an ordinary coat pocket. It is desirable, at the same time, to have these blank pages in the note-book exact duplicates in size and style of the forms used in the permanent file -providing any file is used aside from the books.

This method of handling fruit descriptions is greatly to be recommended. Almost anywhere that the pomological student may go