Classification of Apples.
By Professor W. J. BEAL, of Lansing, Mich.

A natural classification would be one in which
every distinguishing feature of the plant was considered, giving each character its due weight. This
would include the peculiar features of the young
embryo as it began to germinate, following on with
every step in its growth to a mature plant bearing
fruit. In such a classification nothing must escape
notice. The twigs, buds, leaves, all parts of the
flowers, fruit and seeds-every point must have its
due weight in determining the relations of each
variety to all the others. The varieties of apples
have become so numerous, that each should be more
completely described than has generally been customary. In defining wild plants, the botanist places
great stress on the peculiarities of the flowers. I
believe these characters are of great value in describing our apples. I will briefly describe and
compare the flowers of a few of the varieties first
examined. The petal of the Red Astrachan is
ovate, and on the average of many specimens is one
and a fourth inches long by three-fourths broad in
the widest place. The petal of a Talman Sweet is
elliptical, twelve-sixteenths by seven-sixteenths, just
about long enough to reach across the widest part
of a petal of the Red Astrachan. The petal of the
Porter is nearly orbicular, cordate at the base, with
a very short claw or stem. It is twelve-sixteenths
by thirteen-sixteenths of an inch in breadth and
length.

The petal of a Sweet Bough is broadly ovate, or
elliptical ovate, seventeen and fourteen-sixteenths
inches across the surface, having a distinct claw.
This is enough to show something of the great
value of the petals in describing apples.
On the Red Astrachan the styles are seven-
twelfths of an inch long, united for one-third to
two-fifths of an inch, and then diverging. They
are slightly pubescent where they begin to separate;
above and below they are smooth. In the Talman

Sweet, the styles are five-sixteenths of an inch long.
The upper half of the five styles is closely covered
and matted together by a dense woolly substance.
In the flowers of the Jersey Sweet the styles are
short, stout and twice the diameter of those in the
Seek-no-further.

The Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener, 1876, p. 185, gives something of a new classification of apples by Robert Hogg. The only new
points used are those based on the shape of the
calyx-tube and the position of the stamens in the
tube.

The calyx-tube varies in form from conical to
funnel-shaped, and is seen between the eye and the
core on making a longitudinal section of an apple
through the center.

The stamens form a bristle-like fringe round the
inner surface of the calyx-tube. Some form a fringe
immediately under the base of the segments, and
are called marginal; others are medium; others
situated near the base are called basal.
To test the value of these new characters of Dr.
Hogg, I have examined a large number of our
apples. In the first forty-eight varieties examined,
seven had the stamens marginal, twenty-four medium, three basal, eight between marginal and
medium, six between medium and basal. As we
should expect in any character, it is sometimes
very decisive and of much value, while in other
cases it varies or is so near midway between two
forms that we can make little use of it.

An artificial classification is based on some one
point or a few points of difference, ignoring all other
points, any of which may be important. As an
illustration, we may call all apples sweet or sour,
large or small, striped or not striped. So in botany,
the best artificial keys in our text books require
the student to divide only one, two or three points
at a time. This one divided, he leaves it for the
next, and so on till the specimen is separated from
all others.

Mr. A. J. Downing believed the classification of
apples to be impracticable, and arranged his fruits
in alphabetical order. Mr. Thomas, Barry, Dr.
Warder and some others, have arranged the varieties in a way to assist a person in finding the name
of an unknown fruit. Many of us would like still
more aid to make it easier to trace out an apple.
If an apple is of such a size as to make it doubtful whether to call it large or medium, place it in
both classes in the key. So with other points
which are likely to be misunderstood as to shape,
time of maturing, etc.

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Many fruits are still very imperfectly described.
To make use of the new characters of the flower, it
will be necessary to go again over all the work of
others in examining fresh specimens when in flower
and in fruit.

In the classification which I have adopted, I first
decide whether the apple is sweet or sour; second,
is it ripe in summer, autumn or winter; third, is it
striped with red, not striped nor russet; fourth, is
it flat, round, conical or oblong. These four points
can be expressed in a key on two pages of a book
facing each other. At the end of each line in the
key I give the page on which to continue the investigation.

After making use of these four classes, I do not
pursue any definite order, but make use of just
those points which seem to me most characteristic.
In some it may be the basin, in some this may not
be a marked feature. I seize whatever is the most
striking point for contrast between any two apples
or lot of apples in hand.

I have made free use of a recent paper of mine
in the Michigan Pomological Report for 1876.