CLASS III.-SMALL-FRUIT CULTURE. SUB-CLASS I-Bush-fruits. Group a.-Rubaceous fruits (cane-fruits), or bramble-fruits. Raspberry, Rubus idaus. Black-cap raspberry, Rubus occidentalis. Blackberry, Rubus villosus. Northern dewberry, Rubus canadensis. Southern dewberry, Rubus trivialis. Group b.-Ribaceous fruits. Currant, Ribes rubrum. Black currant, Ribes nigrum. thoides. Group c.-Miscellaneous bush-fruits. охуасап Juneberry, Amelanchier oblongifolia. Goumi, Eleagnus multiflora (E. longipes). SUBCLASS 2.—Strawberry culture. Garden strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis. Virginian strawberry, Fragaria virginiana. SUBCLASS 3-Cranberry culture. Common cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon. CLASS IV.-NON-WOODY OR HERB-LIKE FRUITS. SUBCLASS 1.—. Banana, Musa sapientium. Plantain, Musa paradisica. SUBCLASS 2.-Pineapple. Common pineapple, Ananas sativus. SUBCLASS 3.-Cactaceous fruits. Prickly pear, Opuntia tuna, and others. Barbadoes gooseberry, Pereskia aculeata. 1 XV THE CLASSIFICATION OF APPLES THERE are probably something like five hundred varieties of apples now known and propagated by name in North America; the number of named varieties available in collections and elsewhere is doubtless above one thousand; while those described in our American literature runs considerably above two thousand. Obviously it is impossible for any one man to know them all. Any scheme of classification which would group together those varieties of like characteristics would plainly be a great relief to the man who handles or studies apples. Only once in this country has any general scheme of classification ever been attempted for apples. This was the purely artificial system of Dr. Warder, referred to below. The only essays toward a natural classification have been infrequent and of the most fragmentary character. One of the most striking of these was made by a joint committee appointed by the state horticultural societies of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and South Dakota, in 1898. This committee met in La Crosse, Wisconsin, August 30 and 31, 1898, "in order," as it was said, "to revise and simplify the nomenclature of the Russian apples." The service performed by the committee, however, was much more important and far reaching than the mere revision of names, for their report really presented a systematic and natural classification of the varieties discussed. The arrangement was doubtless open to some criticism-such things are seldom perfect—and it covers comparatively few varieties, and those of small general interest; yet the principle of the classification is vital and unexceptionable.* Groups of Russian Apples The committee, at the outset of its work, unanimously adopted the following resolution as a preamble to their findings: The varieties here grouped as members of the same families, while in a few cases differing somewhat in characteristics of tree, are so nearly identical in fruit that for exhibition and commercial purposes they are practically the same and should be so considered. *The full report of the committee may be found in the Minnesota Horticulturist, 27: 41. 1899. (Minn. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 27.) In the succeeding paragraph of the report it was suggested that “the word 'group' or 'type' may be used if preferred for the word 'family.'" The present writer greatly prefers the word " group," since the word "family" is used in a special sense in the classification of plants. The committee then proceeded to divide the Russian apples into fourteen groups, as follows, a few addenda being given at the end of the report: 1. Hibernal group, including Hibernal, Lieby or Recumbent, Yellow Arcadian, Juicy Burr (spurious *), Romenskoe (spurious), Silken Leaf, Zuzoff (spurious), Pendent Ear, Omensk (spurious), Romna (spurious), Ostrakoff, U. S. D. A. (spurious). 2. Duchess Group.-Duchess, Duchess of Oldenburg, or Oldenburg, Arabian, Borovinka, White Krim, Anisette, Glass Green. 3. Longfield Group.-Longfield, English Pippin, Good Peasant (spurious), No. 387 (spurious). 4. Charlamoff Group.-Charlamoff, Peterson's Charlamoff, Champanskoe, Pointed Pipka, Champagne. 5. Romna Group.-Romna, Romenskoe. 6. Cross Group.-Into this group is put the variety No. 413 of the United States Department of Agriculture. The following minute is then entered: "The * In these names "the word 'spurious' indicates that the name preceding it properly belongs to another variety with which it has been mixed." |