THE DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF APPLE FLOWERS. - We make
a brief abstract of an essay on this subject by Prof. W. J. Beal,
of the Michigan Agricultural College. The essay is contained in
vol. iii of the Report of the State Pomological Society. Each flower
bud of the apple contains five to eight flowers. The centre flower
opens first, and is often provided with poor anthers ; it is most likely
to set for fruit so far as the author has observed. The immense
number and often very great similarity of varieties of apples make
it often difficult to recognize and define them by the fruit alone,
as is mostly done. No pomologists that he could hear of have
made any use of the flowers of apples as a means of classifying
them. He says, "the petal of the red astrachan is one and a
fourth inches long by three-fourths broad. It is ovate. The
petal of a Tolman Sweet is twelve-sixteenths by seven-sixteenths
of an inch, and is elliptical. Its length is about the breadth of
the red astrachan. The petal of the Porter is thirteen-sixteenths by
twelve-sixteenths and is nearly orbicular. It is also cordate at the
base, different from the other two varieties. Large numbers of
flowers were examined on several trees of each, except the Porter.
The petal of the sweet bough is seventeen-sixteenths by fourteen-
sixteenths of an inch. It is broadly ovate, with a stem or claw
longer than tither of the other three varieties mentioned. Other
varieties were examined with similar results. The styles also
vary much in size and in other respects in different varieties.
They are usually united about half-way, and mostly smooth for the
greater part of their length. In the Tolman Sweet, the styles are
united in one small column for half their length, then appear
larger. The upper half of the styles are closely covered and
bound together by a dense woolly substance, unlike the styles of
any other variety examined. The sepals also differ considerably
in different varieties." The author is confident that much use

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can be made of the flowers in defining varieties of apples. This
may seem a simple matter to botanists, but it must be new to
most pomologists, for some of the best of them say there is little
difference in the flowers of apples.