42 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



Fruit that is hidden by foHage is not as well colored as that ex- 

 posed to full sunlight, hence the importance of thoroughly pruning 

 and thinning. During the past few years it has become quite an 

 amusement to .cover part of an apple early in the season with a 

 letter or letters or the profile of some person. Underneath these 

 letters or profile the right color does not develop and when they are 

 removed the letters stand out in green and yellow in the surround- 

 ing red, to the wonder of the uninitiated, thus showing that sunlight 

 is necessary for the development of high color. Heat is also an 

 impo'rtant factor in determining intensity of color. Each kind of 

 fruit appears to have its optimum or best mean temperature in the 

 growing season. In countries or districts with cool summers for 

 the kind of fruit in ciuestion the fruit is not as a rule highly colored 

 and where the summer temperature is very high some varieties of 

 apples are not as well colored as where the summers are a little 

 cooler. Fruit on young trees growing vigorously and causing the 

 fruit to grow late is not well colored. This leads to the conclusion 

 that the degree of maturity of the fruit has much to do with the 

 color. 



In Ontario late keeping varieties have the best color in the 

 warmer districts where the fruit becomes most mature before 

 picking. Early varieties or those that mature in summer or early 

 in the autumn get sufficient heat in most places in Canada where 

 apples are grown to reach their full development in comparatively 

 warm weather, hence are highly colored over a much wider area 

 than are the late winter varieties which, where the season is rela- 

 tively short and the autumn cool, do not reach their best condition. 

 In warm, dry seasons fruit matures earlier than in seasons which 

 are less so, and if well developed the more mature the fruit is before 

 it is harvested the higher the color will be. The fruit in the dry 

 districts of British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, California, and 

 some other States is noted for its high color. There the trees are 

 irrigated and by stopping irrigation and causing a ripening of the 

 wood of the tree and a thorough maturing of the fruit the latter 

 becomes highly colored. 



In orchards where the trees are in the sod, winter apples are 

 usually more highly colored though smaller than in cultivated 

 orchards, evidently because the trees ripen sooner and the fruit 



