FRUIT. 



49 



mucli clouded, will be larger, but the flavor 

 will be less sweet and agreeable — this is often 

 the case with the large strawberries. 



So that a fruit which when exposed to the 

 sun is sweet, when grown where no direct 

 light will reach it will be acid ; as Pears, 

 Cherries, &c. 



Hence acidity may be corrected by exposure 

 to light ; and excessive sweetness, or insipidity, 

 by removal from light. 



Judicious pruning, therefore, so as to admit 

 all the possible light and air to the fruit, is ad- 

 vantageous, but care must be taken that it be 

 not pursued to the injury of the plant. 



It is the property of succulent fruits which 

 are acid when wild to acquire sweetness when 

 cultivated, losing a part of their acid. 



This probably arises from the augmentation 

 of the cellular tissue, which possibly has a 

 greater power than woody or vascular tissue 

 of assisting in the formation of sugar. 



As a certain quantity of acid is essential to 

 render fruit agreeable to the palate, and as it is 

 the property of cultivated fruits to add to their 

 saccharine matter, but not to form more acid 

 than when wild, it follows that, in selecting wild 

 fruits for domestication, those which are acid 

 5 



