114 CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT 



vided they are not overtaken by frost, the longer 

 they may be preserved. In hot climates, and in 

 hot seasons, fruit attains to maturity and ripeness 

 earlier than in colder ones, because the sap performs 

 its office more rapidly. It may be considered a 

 correct rule, that apples are ripe when those that 

 are sound and fair fall naturally from the trees, or 

 separate very readily on being lifted by the hand. 

 They should be gathered during a clear dry air, 

 after the dew has evaporated. According to the 

 late philosophick Dr. Darwin, in order to ascertain 

 when fruits, for instance, apples and pears, are 

 sufficiently ripe for gathering, it is requisite to at- 

 tend to the colour pf the skin enclosing the seeds. 

 During their infant state, there is no cavity round 

 the kernels, but they are in contact with the seed 

 vessels. In a subsequent period, when the fruit 

 has exhausted the nutricious matter, the cells con- 

 taining the seeds become hollow, and the latter 

 assume a dark colour. This, Dr. D. observes, is 

 the proper criterion by which to judge when such 

 fruits should be gathered ; as it indicates that they 

 will not continue to increase in size, but waste and 

 become hollow, by absorbing the mucilaginous par- 

 ticles from the centre. In gathering apples and 

 pears, it is necessary carefully to avoid injuring the 

 blossom buds, which are already formed for the 

 next year's fruit. These buds are placed at the 

 side of the foot stalk of the fruit, and if the spurs 

 are broken, there will be no fruit on that part the 

 next season. The pressing against the trees, there* 

 fore, with heavy ladders, and the rash practice of 

 thrashing the limbs with poles, ought to be entirely 

 abandoned; for by such means, the bark and limbs 

 are bruised, and the blossom buds for the succeed- 

 ing year are destroyed. Instead of ladders, step- 

 ping frames^hould be employed, and a pole, fur- 

 nished with a hook at the end, and covered with 

 coarse cloth, may be used to shake the small 



