THE RELATION OF CLIMATE TO POMOLOGY 251 



218. Period of ripening of hardy fruits. — A distinction 

 must be made between tlie time when winter fruit is picked 

 from the tree and when it is "eating ripe." This difference 

 does not obtain for summer varieties of fruit, for they are 

 usually ready to use at the time of picking. The earlier 

 fruits also are likely to show a variation in time of maturity 

 which may necessitate several pickings. The same hypoth- 

 esis considered under blossoming has also been applied to 

 ripening of fruit, namely, Hoffman's theoiy of a thermal 

 constant. Here again latitude, soil, and site are all factors 

 that influence the ripening period. 



An extensive list of the common fruits has been prepared 

 by Hedrick * which gives the time of ripening of each. 



219. Relation between blooming and ripening. — Whether 

 there is a correlation betw{>en time of blooming and ripening 

 is a question of considerable practical as well as academic 

 importance and several conflicting views have been held in 

 regard to it. The large amount of data collected by Hedrick 

 permits a general statement, although many exceptions may 

 be cited. He says, "It requires only a cursory comparison 

 of the data in the two bulletins to show that there are no 

 correlations between blooming time and ripening time of 

 fruits." 



From data secured from Hedrick 's "Peaches of New York," 

 Norton ^ has prepared the following table, which shows 

 lack of a definite correlation: 



1 N. Y. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 408. 1915. 



2 Norton, J. B. S. Proc. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 1918. 



