THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FRUIT 



531 



number on the premature dropping of apples is shown by data summarized 

 in Table 5. Though the possession of a certain number of developing 

 seeds did not insure the fruit against dropping and though some of the 

 few-seeded fruits persisted and matured, there was a well-marked tend- 

 ency for the latter to fall prematurely and an equally distinct tendency 

 for the several-seeded fruits to persist. In a previous paragraph it was 

 pointed out that the setting and maturing of apples is favored by the size, 

 strength and vigor of the limbs and spurs on which they are borne. Table 

 6 presents further data which show the varying seed numbers in fruits 

 of approximatel}^ the same size but borne on spurs of varying weights. 

 It is noticeable that with fruit weights remaining constant the number 

 of seeds they contain varies inversely as the weights of the spurs. In 

 other words, the poorer development of fruit generally found on weak 

 spurs is offset if the fruits have enough seeds. This has led to the sugges- 

 tion that developing seeds have a pulling power for water and sap, 

 enabling the fruits of which they form a part to develop more or less at 

 the expense of other fruits with presumably smaller food-attracting 

 abilities. ^^ 



Table 6. — Seed Number Compensating for Spur Weight in the Apple 



{After Heinicke^^) 



(Weight of fruit constant, number of seeds and weight of spurs varying) 



Lot 



Variety 



Fruit 

 weight 

 (grams) 



Number 

 of seeds 

 per fruit 



Spur 

 weight 

 (grams) 



Tompkins King 



Tompkins King 

 Tompkins King 

 Tompkins King 

 Rhode Island. . . 

 Westfield 



5.54 

 5.05 

 2.31 

 1.98 

 3.97 

 1.45 

 6.09 

 3.75 

 5.05 

 2.40 

 4.86 

 2.28 

 2.33 

 1.31 



Experimental evidence in corroboration of this suggestion was obtained 

 by coating with vaseline partly grown apples on spurs removed from trees 

 and exposed to a drying atmosphere. It was found that the leaves on the spurs 

 were able to withdraw less water from many-seeded than from few-seeded fruits 

 and more from the side of a fruit having no seeds than from the side where the 

 locules contamed a number.*^ 



