TIME OF GATHERING. 357 



very well to aid the stem by tying a string around 

 it and tlijen over the limb or the spur. This little 

 work will reward the grower with still larger fruit. 

 But what is better, is a bag made of gauze, drawn 

 over the specimen and tied to the limb. This will 

 not only give it support, but will catch it if broken 

 off, defend it from birds, and to a considerable ex- 

 tent, too, from mischievous boys, who would seldom 

 take off the bags, while others immediately at hand 

 remained unprotected. 



Gathering. This is generally esteemed a matter 

 of little importance, but it is really one of great 

 consequence. If fruit is gathered during a hot day, 

 when the leaves have begun to wilt, and rapid 

 evaporation is going on both from them and from 

 the fruit, the flavor will be less desirable than in 

 the morning when it is full of juice, which it has 

 absorbed during the cool, moist hours of the night. 

 But fruit should never be gathered during rain, or 

 when wet, because this extreme is as bad as the 

 other, and the fruit will be comparatively flavorless. 

 The fact can be easily ascertained by permitting a 

 fruit to remain in water for a few hours, and then 

 tasting it. If picked in the heat of the day, when 

 almost deprived of juice, it will absorb the flavor 

 of almost anything near it, provided the atmos- 

 phere is moist. On this account fruits from a damp 

 room, which is finished with pine, often taste of 

 that wood. 



