340 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



Miiller-Tliurgau's results are believed to have beeu influenced by the com- 

 petitive struggle of seeded grapes with seedless grapes growing on the same 

 vine or bunch. This phase is further discussed in the work with pears noted 

 below. 



The correlative influences of seed on the ripening' process of fruits, Ewert 

 {LandiD. Jahrh., 39 {1910), 'No. 3, pp. 471-486). — In continuation of previous 

 investigations (E. S. R., 22, p. 039), analyses of the fruits of a number of 

 varieties of pears and one variety of apple made in 1909 are reported with 

 special reference to the influence of seeds on the total sugar and acid content 

 of the fruit. In a number of instances, tests were also made for starch. The 

 data are fully discussed. 



With most of the varieties, very little starch was found in either the seeded 

 or seedless fruits. When starch was present, it disappeared in both the 

 seeded and seedless pears at the same period before maturity. In general the 

 seedless fruit ripened first, though there was only a few days difference in 

 this respect and the ripening period of individual varieties was not materially 

 influenced by the presence or absence of seed. Cane sugar was rarely present 

 in ripe pears and exerted no influence on the total sugar content relations. 



Generally speaking, with seeded and seedless fruits taken from the same 

 tree, the seeded fruits were richer in sugar and also richer in acid. The seed- 

 less fruits, however, which were taken from trees possessing strong partheno- 

 genetic tendencies and upon which fertilization had been artificially prevented 

 (E, S. R., 19, p. 142), were richer in sugar and lower in acid than seeded fruits 

 of the same variety. An exception to this rule in the case of a strongly acid 

 variety indicates that the tendency to produce less acid in parthenogenetic 

 fruits may be outweighed by the varietal characteristic. In so far as seedless 

 fruits come into competition with seeded fruits on the same tree, the author 

 concludes that the seeded fruits make the storing up of sugar in the seedless 

 fruits diflicult. 



Aside from the fact that the greater number of seeds creates in many cases 

 a slower maturity of the fruit, it is believed that the seeds also exert an 

 important influence upon the metabolism processes in the fruit with special 

 reference to the development of vascular bundles and upon the protein metabo- 

 lism. This phase is discussed to some extent, although no conclusions are 

 formed in the light of the present investigations. The importance, however, 

 of taking the mutual relations of fruits into consideration when studying the 

 nutritive processes of fruits is pointed out. 



The blossoming of apple trees, Duke of Bedford and S. U. Pickering 

 (Woburn Expt. Fruit Farm Rpt.. 12 {1910), pp. 35-51).— In a search for fac- 

 tors governing the blossoming order of different varieties of apples, trees of 

 117 varieties of English apples and 67 varieties of Scotch and foreign apples 

 were observed at the Woburn Experimental Fruit Farm during the seasons 

 1905 to 1909, inclusive. 



The combined results of the 5 seasons' work showed that apples which 

 ripened early usually blossomed 2 or 3 days earlier on the average than late 

 varieties. The character of the fruit, with reference to its use for dessert or 

 cooking, had no effect on the relative date of blossoming. The duration of 

 the blossoming period of a number of different varieties in any particular year 

 was influencecl largely by the prevailing weather conditions, rather than by 

 the actual date on which the earliest variety blossomed. Likewise the tendency 

 of certain varieties to blossom habitually earlier or later than others exerted 

 only about one-third as much influence in determining the order of blossoming 

 as the prevailing weather conditions. The same variety occupied a place with 

 reference to the order of blossoming averaging 2A days difference in one season 



