Ee rae Pe Pe ee Se Py eS Fhe ee, tery Py 
ve ¢ ~ ‘i. 2 t . 
KEEPING FRUIT FRESH. 377 
lost but from two to four grapes each and all were in a perfect state 
of preservation, the stalks being perfectly green and the grapes 
firm, full, and savory, and having all the qualities of fresh-cut 
grapes. 
At the conclusion of the experiment, 28 cubic centimenters (17 
cubic inches) of alcohol at 60° remained in the bottle out of the 100 
cubic centimeters (61 cubic inches) at 96°, but, as Mr. Petit remarks 
the door of his recipient had not been built with great care and did 
not close hermetically, hence a useless consumption of alcohol. 
This process offers many advantages. Itis simple, easy of appli- 
cation, and cheap, and, if adopted by our fruit growers, would allow 
them not only to hold their fine fruit until they can dispose of them 
ata fair price, but would also insure them handsome profits during 
tlie winter months. 
FRUIT WITHOUT SEEDS. 
Selected. 
Appendicitis may not be so fashionable a disease a few years 
hence as it is now. Gardeners are trying their best to get rid of 
seeds in fruits. Already we have the navel orange, which is nearly 
always seedless. Some varieties of apples havé been produced that 
have almost no seeds. They are abnormities. Sometimes they are 
called “bloomless,” because the blossoms have no petals and in 
some cases lack stamens. The core is very smalJ, and commonly 
there is a hollow at the end opposite the stem. These seedless 
apples are generally poor in flavor, being grown merely as curios- 
ities. 
Raisin producers in California are trying to obtain seedless 
grapes for raisins. The object in view is to get size and seedless- 
ness in the same fruit. You are familiar with the seedless grapes of 
Coriuth, which are commonly known as “currants.” The Sultana 
raisins of southeastern Europe are likewise seedless grapes. Both 
of these varieties are now cultivated in California, but they are 
small. A prominent grower in Fresno county is working in this 
direction with the Muscat of Alexandria, which is a leading raisin 
grape in California. He selects cuttings from those vines which 
produce less than the normal number of seeds. Continuing this 
process from year to year, he hopes to reduce the grapes to absolute 
seedlessness eventually. It is believed that the seedlessness of the 
Corinth and Sultana grapes was obtained by similar means. 
The banana is seedless, and has been so for centuries, though 
nobody knows why. It is propagated by suckers, and possibly it 
had no seeds when it was first found in the wild state. The banana 
isa modified berry. Cutting the fruit down through the middle, you 
will sometimes see a few little brown spots, which are rudimentary 
seeds. Occasionally the banana does actually produce seeds. The 
pineapple is nearly seedless, being propagated likewise from suck. 
ers and from slips. The egg-plant, which is a fruit botanically 
speaking, is occasionally seedless. This plant is able to produce 
developed fruit, whether the blossoms are fertilized or not. 
