42 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



picked, equals the less mature fruit and often surpasses it. The 

 more mature fruit is superior in flavor and texture, and is often 

 more attractive to the purchaser and therefore of greater money 

 value. It retains its plumpness longer and is less subject to 

 apple scald. If, however, the fruit is not picked until overripe 

 it is already near the end of its life history and will deteriorate 

 rapidly unless stored soon after picking in the low temperature. 



The experiments indicate that so far as maturity is concerned, 

 the ideal keeping apple is one that is fully grown, highly colored, 

 but still hard and firm when picked. Apples that are to be 

 stored in a local cold storage house to be distributed to the 

 markets in cooler weather may be picked much later than fruit 

 requiring ten days or more in transit, but the use of the refrig- 

 erator car makes the picking possible when the fruit must be in 

 transit for considerable time in warm^ weather in reaching a 

 distant storage house. 



It has been found that there is a close relation between the 

 degree of maturity of the fruit when picked and its subsequent 

 susceptibility to scald. Apple scald is one of the most serious 

 difficulties with which the fruit storer has to contend. The 

 nature of the trouble is not well understood, but it is supposed 

 to be caused by a ferment called enzyme. It is not a contagious 

 disease and is in no way connected with the action of parasitic 

 organisms, such as mould or bacteria. It appears to be closely 

 connected with the changes that occur in ripening after the fruit 

 is picked, and is most injurious in its eflfects as the fruit 

 approaches the end of its life. 



The scald always appears first on the green or less mature side 

 of an apple. The portions grown in the shade, and under- 

 colored are therefore most seriously afifected. When the apple 

 crop is picked before it is matured the fruit is more susceptible 

 to scald than it would have been later in the season, as the more 

 mature and more highly colored fruit is less susceptible to 

 injury. The relative susceptibility of immature and more 

 mature apples is brought out in the following table : 



