The next character, and one of considerable value, is that dependent upon _flavor_ in its broadest characters of sweet and sour, which, though sometimes giving rise to a puzzling question, is, in most varieties, sufficiently marked to constitute the basis of a minor sub-division. _Color_, which is notoriously the poorest character and least esteemed by botanists in their descriptions, on account of its liability to variation, is, however, of sufficient importance in pomology to take a high rank and to appear very prominently in fruit nomenclature. Still it should be reserved for the lowest sub-divisions of a classification. Among our American writers, who deservedly stand prominent as pomologists, the most satisfactory attempt at classification is found in the little work prepared by J.J. Thomas. No one who has realized the advantages to be derived from the simple and clear sub-divisions made by this author, will ever be satisfied with a fruit-book that is not arranged upon the basis of some classification. Thomas, in his excellent work, makes three great divisions of apples according to their period of ripening, as the _Summer_, _Autumn_, and _Winter_ fruits, to which some of us would desire to add _Spring_, or long-keepers. Each of these he has divided into two classes--those characterized by their flavor as _sweet_ apples, and those possessed of more or less acidity; and each of these classes is subdivided into two sections, according to their color, as striped with red and not striped; so that in this arrangement we have eighteen groups, and, with specimen in hand, this synopsis enables us at once to decide in which of these groups of moderate dimensions we may look for the description we desire; and, if it be contained in the book, it may readily be found. The labor of searching through the whole list is thus obviated. The Germans have made many attempts at the classification of fruits. Christ, Diel, Dochnahl, Manger and Sickler, have been engaged in this work; and Diel's Synopsis, though far from perfect, has been generally adopted. He makes seven classes, with orders under each. Dochnahl, a later writer, has modified this by making two sections according to the shape, whether _angular_ or _spherical_, and four classes also based upon their form. Robert Hogg, in his _British Pomology_, which is an excellent account of the apples cultivated in England, has given a modification which answers a good purpose for classification. He makes three great sections, according to season, _Summer_, _Autumn_, and _Winter_. Each of these is divided into two classes, according to shape: 1st, _Round_, _roundish_, or _oblate_; and 2nd, _Oblong_, _conical_, _oval_, or _ovate_. These again are grouped according to their colors: A, _pale_; B, _striped_; C, _red_; and D, _russet_. As a matter of interest I will give Diel's classification. CLASS I.--RIBBED APPLES.