J02 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



tember. Currants matted up are safe until rain penetrates and wets the fruit ; then it 

 soon decays. Cherries keep sound weeks or months after they are ripe if kept dry ; but 

 if soaked with rain they split and decay in as many days, or even hours. Plums do not 

 always reach the ripening stage before cracking through excessive wet. Light water- 

 proof coverings, stretched over a row of bushes laden with ripe fruit, would often save 

 enough from destruction by a deluging rain to pay the first cost of the canvas. It is 

 lamentable to see so much fruit wasted for want of simple inexpensive means of protecting 

 it from disaster. Light frames covered with oiled calico answer well for throwing off 

 rain from wall trees, and glazed wall copings are still better, particularly if some netting 

 be suspended in front and kept at a distance of not less than 1'2 inches from the trees. 

 Something to throw off the wet, and at the same time admit a circulation of air, is 

 absolutely essential to the preservation of fruit in wet periods in gardens whence a 

 prolonged supply is desired and expected. In extended culture for commercial 

 purposes in fields, artificial shelter is not practicable, but many kinds of fruits can 

 be profitably grown in inexpensive structures, mere glazed sheds, as will be in due 

 course explained. 



GATHERING FRUIT. 



Tests for Gathering. Varieties of the different kinds of fruit are influenced in the 

 period of their gathering by soil, climate, and season. Cultivation, also, has some effect in 

 this respect, as healthy, carefully-cultured trees mature their crops better and earlier 

 than those subsisting in cold, impoverished soil. Light soil also matures fruit sooner than 

 heavy land. The season, therefore, of gathering any particular variety cannot be accu- 

 rately stated in the case of the common fruits. With some notable exceptions, such as 

 grapes, also red and white currants, fruit falling of its own accord is one of the best tests 

 for gathering, but the distinction must be made between sound and unsound. The latter 

 is cast prematurely, but when sound fruit commences falling, its growth is matured. 

 It is not always prudent, however, to await this intimation, either with fruit that must 

 be made use of as soon as ripe, or that which requires time to ripen after removal from 

 the trees. A practised eye can readily detect the changed appearance apples and pears 

 assume in perfecting. In most varieties the colours become brighter, and the green parts 

 merge into yellow. Close observation of fruit in its last stages is essential to gather it 

 at the proper time. The changing of the pips or seeds from white to brown is not always 

 a safe test, as some varieties have the kernels brown before the fruit is ready for 



