358 THE MANNER OF GATHERING. 



The proper time for gathering a fruit is when the 

 saccharine fermentation has begun, and before it 

 has become tender to the touch. If the fruit be 

 permitted to remain upon the tree until ripe, the 

 young cells, which were full of active sap, become 

 lined with woody matter, and are farinaceous, or 

 mealy, to the taste. If plucked as directed, this 

 process of the production of woody tissue is stopped, 

 because the supply from the roots is cut off, while 

 the fermentation goes on, sugar is elaborated, and 

 the flesh becomes tender. 



The manner of gathering should not be by shak- 

 ing the tree, and permitting the fruit to fall to the 

 ground. In that way the fruit-spurs are broken, 

 and the fruit itself is bruised by the limbs and soil, 

 and will consequently decay much sooner than if it 

 had sustained no injury. By examination of the 

 stem of the fruit it w ill be seen that the point of 

 attachment with the spur is clearly defined. It is 

 at this place that the separation should be made in 

 gathering. The reason that so many orchards bear 

 only on alternate years is often owing, not so much 

 to their over-bearing as to the careless manner in 

 which the fruit Avas gathered. The sjDurs are thus 

 destroyed, and the energies of the tree are required 

 the next year to refurnish itself with them. 



The fruit, after being gathered, should be carefully 

 laid in the basket or barrel, and not throivn in, as is 

 the custom with many. If it is bruised, the tissue 



