318 STATE nORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



SUNLIGHT AND FRAGRANCE. 



The Eural Canadian notes the fact that attention has recently been called to 

 the marvelous fragrance of the flowers and fruits that grow in Siberia and the 

 more northern portions ot the various countries of Europe. Tiie few fruits 

 that grow there are also very highly flavored. The like is also true of the flowers 

 and fruits of northern Michigan. The finest strawberries found on this conti- 

 nent are raised on the southern shore of Lake Superior. They are of very large 

 size and have a very high flavor, and are so fragrant as to render them desirable 

 for the aroma they throw off. Observation shows that continued sunlight 

 produces aroma and high flavor the same as a high temperature produces the 

 quality of sweetness. In a high latitude the days during summer are very long, 

 and it is at this season that the flowers blossom and the fruits ripen. The addi- 

 tion of two or three hours of sunshine has a wonderful eff'ect in producing 

 flavor and fnigrance. The quantity of essential oil that can be extracted, from 

 flowers grown in Sweden is much larger than can be obtained from the same 

 kind of flowers raised in the south of Europe. Flowers raised in houses are 

 less fragrant than those raised out of doors, as they get less light. It is believed 

 in England that the electric light may be made useful not only in increasing 

 the growth of plants, but in adding to the fragrance and flavor of fruits sub- 

 jected to its influence. Experiments already made sliow that flowers grown in 

 houses lighted by electricity during the night are much more fragrant than 

 those which grow out of doors. 



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President Lyon, in Eural Kew Yorker, devotes a column to this same subject. 

 He thinks the notion that a tropical sun is required, to develop color and flavor 

 to the highest extent is rather poetical than true. California fruits grown in 

 genial climate are wanting in both these valuable characters, v/hile excelling in 

 size; as we come eastward and northward, the color hightening nearly as the 

 latitude increases, till we reach very nearly the northern limit ot fruit culture, 

 and especially of the cultivation of the larger fruits in the region of northern 

 Michigan and Ontario, where, also, we are surprised to find the maximum of 

 color. 



The Centennial exhibition ilhistrated the fact that none of the exhibits there 

 shown equaled in brilliant, rich colors the fruits of the British Provinces and 

 of northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and even Minnesota. 



The potency of the long-continued sunlight of the far north for the develop- 

 ment ot color was also vevy noticeable in the collections of apples from Mon- 

 treal and from the Grand Traverse region of Northern Michigan, at the recent 

 meeting of the American Pomological Society at Boston. 



The facts above narrated seem to lead very naturally to the conclusion that 

 abundant and long-continued light rather than great heat, is the dominant 

 factor in the development of brilliant colors in fruits. 



Flavor, on the other hand, while it can by no means be held to be independ- 

 ent of the influence of light, seems, in an increased degree, to demand the 

 elaborating influences of warmth. 



The summers of the Xorth are often extremely warm ; and experience has 

 long since demonstrated that upon the transmission of a variety of fruit 

 northward, there can be no doubt of its equal success in its new location, if 

 only the season is of sutlicient length to bring it to maturity before the 

 development of flavor shall be checked by the chill of Autumn. 



