New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 333 



taiiied is the result of a combination of various conditions in the 

 environment of the tree at different periods in the development of 

 the fruit. The character and quantity of available plant food, the 

 moisture, texture and mechanical conditions of the soil are some 

 of these conditions. The amount of light and its intensity at dif- 

 ferent periods in the season, the atmospheric temperature and 

 humidity and the amount of sound foliage are others. Possibly 

 the amount of reserve food material which was stored in the tis- 

 sues during the previous season may also influence the final re- 

 sult. This idea is suggested by the fact that the foliage during 

 the summer and autumn of 1895 was unusually perfect and the 

 trees were consequently able to store up an exceptionally abun- 

 dant supply of reserve food material, as is shown by the very 

 abundant crop of the following year. In the early summer of 

 1896, shortly after the fruit was set, even before it had attained 

 a diameter of an inch, the red color began to show on the red 

 varieties and when mature the fruit was exceptionally well col- 

 ored. 



Keeping Qualities of the Fruit. 



For the purpose of comparing the keeping qualities of fruit 

 from treated sections with fruit of the same variety from un- 

 treated sections, samples from different sections were put in the 

 fruit house and records were kept of the length of time the fruit 

 kept in good condition. The fruit was sorted over as often as was 

 deemed necessary; those fruits which had begun to decay or had 

 become withered and unfit for market were discarded and a record 

 was kept of the number discarded at each date of sorting. Know- 

 ing the date when the fruit was put into the fruit house, it was 

 easy to determine the average length of time during which the 

 apples kept in good condition. These records show that the char- 

 acter of the season has considerable influence in determining the 

 keeping qualities of the fruit. The following table gives the rec- 

 ords for 1894, 1895 and 1896. The records for 1897 are not yet 

 complete, while in 1893 the conditions for making comparisons on 

 this point was not satisfactory. 



