AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 191 



of a system of very open trimming, or of planting the individual 

 tree in an especially warm exposure, all of which are merely 

 temporary or local modifications of climate. But this change 

 for the better in the character of the fruit is usually accompa- 

 nied by another of a different kind. The fruit not only ripens 

 higher, but it ripens earlier, and as ripeness is always the pre- 

 cursor of rottenness, it will not keep so well. The Rhode Isl- 

 and greening and the Baldwin, raised in Massachusetts, are less 

 perishable "than the same varieties raised in New Jersey. It 

 is important to take this into account when we are transferring 

 varieties to new localities, otherwise we may fail to secure in 

 the fruit the very qualities for which we have esteemed it. 



SHAPE OF FRUITS. 



The form of fruits is seldom of much importance, but in ap- 

 ples it affords a general indication of quality. The flattened 

 and globular, and the obtuse conical forms are mostly pretty 

 close at the core, and all the very best varieties of apples be- 

 long to these forms. The long-shaped apples have generally 

 large, open, " rattle-box" cores ; and while many of them are 

 distinguished by pleasant peculiarities of flavor, as the gilli- 

 flower, there are very few, if any, first-class fruits among them. 

 Fruits of an oblique or one-sided form, as the Chandler (see p. 

 309), are apt to run defective on the shrunken side in seasons 

 that may be even but slightly unfavorable, and, in general, all 

 fruits with an irregular or disproportioned development of form 

 are liable to similar imperfections. 



COLOR. 



Fruits with a large proportion of bright red, or with at least 

 a full, deep blush cheek, or of a deep golden yellow color, al- 

 ways strike the eye as more beautiful, and find a readier mar- 

 ket than others of only equal quality and less color. 



FLAYOR. 



Of the various flavors found in fruits of the same family, 

 some seem to be produced simply by a happy combination of 

 clear, pleasant acid, with a due proportion of sugar, and are 



