THE FRUIT 



THE FRUIT 



315 



blueberry crop is canned, a part evaporated, 

 while the largest part is used in the fresh state. 

 Most of the cranberry crop is stored for use 

 in the fresh state. Descriptions of species or 

 varieties of either of these fruits should state 

 the value of the fruit for these purposes. The 

 economic status of varieties of the cranberry 

 is given for the several distinct regions in 

 which this fruit is grown, wide differences of 

 value being found in different states. In 

 giving the economic status, the chief items 

 seem to be the extent of acreage, the yield 

 from an acre, and the current price for a 

 barrel of fruit. 



The size and shape of the berries must be 

 given as accurately as possible. The terms 

 large, small, and medium are hardly accurate 

 enough for the size, and figures for length and 

 diameter should be given, or an outline of 

 a transverse- and horizontal-section. The 

 size of cranberries is often given by stating 

 the number required to fill a half-pint cup. 

 Illustrations may be used to show the shape 

 of the fruits; or, as a rule, the shapes of all 

 heath-fruits are so simple that they may be 

 portrayed very accurately by words Uni- 

 formity in size and shape is particularly de- 

 sirable in cranberries and blueberries, there- 

 fore a description must take uniformity into 

 account. 



Cranberries are sometimes picked before 

 ripe, or a part of the crop may be unripe; it 

 is therefore necessary to state the color when 

 partly ripe and the color at maturity. It is 

 necessary to know, also, whether the fruit 

 will color well in storage and what the very 

 ripe color is. Thus, at picking time the unripe 

 color may be light pink; when normally ripe, 

 red; and after storage when dead ripe, dark 

 red or almost black. In some varieties there 

 are russeted areas at one place or another on 

 the surface, of greater or less size, which must 

 be noted. Some cranberries are marked by 

 lines which may be impressed or raised in 

 slight ridges. The color of the stem-end may 

 be lighter or darker than that of the calyx- 

 end. The bloom is light on the fruit of some 

 varieties of cranberries, and wanting on the 

 fruits of others. 



In spite of the name, not all blueberries are 

 blue. One of the species which furnishes a 

 large part of the wild crop and which may 

 become valuable under domestication, V. 



Smnsylvanicum, bears fruit most often bluish- 

 ack but which may be black, light blue, or 

 red. One of the huckleberries, G. baccata, 

 bears in the type-species blue fruits, but there 

 is a form with blue berries and another with 

 white or pinkish-white, translucent berries. In 

 all of the wild species of blueberries and 

 huckleberries, the amount and character of 

 the bloom vary greatly. From these consid- 

 erations of wild species, it may be assumed 

 that when Vaccinium and Gaylussacia are 



domesticated, a wide range in color of fruit 

 may be expected. 



The stem offers means of identification in 

 heath-fruits as in other stemmed fruits. Its 

 length, and in cranberries the manner of in- 

 sertion, whether in a depression or on a neck, 

 are important means of identification. The 

 color of the stem may vary and there may be 

 specific and varietal peculiarities such as 

 wartiness and pubescence. The calyx-end of 

 the fruit is even more characteristic in species 

 and varieties than the stem-end. The apex 

 may be drawn out, flattened or depressed, and 

 the size, shape, and position of the calyx-lobes 

 may be important means of identification. 



Perhaps in no fruits do the seeds and the 

 seed-cavity count for more than in the heath- 

 fruits. In cranberries the number of seeds in 

 named varieties varies in individuals from 

 seedlessness to fifty seeds, with the average 

 varying from six to twenty-four. In huckle- 

 berries there are commmonly ten seed-like 

 nutlets, which are sufficiently large to be un- 

 pleasant. In blueberries the seeds are small 

 but numerous, the number and size of the 

 seed materially affecting the palatability of 

 the fruit. The size and shape of the seed- 

 cavities in the different species and varieties, 

 as determined by sectioning, are variable, and 

 hence of use in distinguishing the value of 

 the fruit as a food product. The thickness of 

 the flesh between seed-cavity and surface 

 might also be stated, in which connection the 

 texture of the flesh ought to be designated, 

 whether tender, tough, melting, or crackling. 



Heath-fruits are usually picked with scoops; 

 in some cases are raked off the plants; or 

 other mechanical devices for harvesting may 

 be used. In these rapid methods of picking, 

 much foreign matter is gathered with the fruit, 

 making it necessary to run the crop through 

 cleaning machines. The effectiveness of some 

 of these separators depends upon the resiliency 

 of the berries, sound fruits bouncing like little 

 rubber balls, while the unsound fruits have 

 lost their elasticity. It follows that a state- 

 ment of the resiliency of \ the fruit, with the 

 cranberry in mind in this particular, must be 

 made in describing a variety; or, at least, 

 the cleaning quality of the fruit should have 

 notice. 



This brief discussion of the structure and 

 form of heath-fruits prepares the way for a 

 consideration of the species of cranberries, 

 blueberries, and huckleberries now under cul- 

 tivation or in process of domestication. Be- 

 sides these, it should be said, there are a con- 

 siderable number more that are proper sub- 

 jects for domestication, toward the ameliora- 

 tion of which practically nothing has been 

 done. The cranberry, as the first of these 

 fruits to be brought under the hand of man, 

 and as by far the most important in commerce, 

 merits attention first. 



