THE FRUIT. 65 



that are naturally when properly exposed to the sun 

 of a bright red or a glowing crimson, remain green in the 

 shade. The climate, too, seems to have considerable ef- 

 fect on the color. As a general thing, we observe that 

 northern apples are clearer and brighter colored than 

 those of the South. 



Dry soils and elevated situations produce more highly 

 colored fruit than damp and low valleys. The terms 

 used in describing colors are all simple, and well under- 

 stood. 



4th. Flavor, in table fruits, is one of the most impor- 

 tant of qualities ; for, however large or fair a fruit may 

 be, if insipid or astringent to an unpleasant degree, or if 

 it possesses some other disagreeable quality, it is unfit for 

 the table. There are various kinds of flavor even among 

 varieties of the same species : in pears, particularly, it is 

 almost endless; the shades and degrees of sweet and acid, 

 and the various perfumes that mingle with these, are 

 almost infinite. 



The same circumstances mentioned as favorable to high 

 and brilliant coloring, are also favorable to the production 

 of fine flavor. Light, heat, a dry soil, and moderate 

 growth, seem to be all essential to fine flavor. On trees 

 somewhat advanced in age, fruits are apt to be higher 

 flavored than on young trees that have just commenced 

 bearing, and in a dry than a wet season. The philosophy 

 of all this is, that in a damp soil or season, or in a shaded 

 situation, when trees are young, and growing rapidly, the 

 fruit receives more sap from the tree than can be properly 

 elaborated by the action of the sun and atmosphere on its 

 surface, and, consequently, the sugary principle is pro- 

 duced in small quantities the juice is watery, sour, or 

 insipid, as the case may be. 



The various terms by which flavor is designated, such 

 as sweet, acid, subacid, sprightly, perfumed, musky ^ spicy , 

 etc., are all well understood. 



