INFLUEXCE OF TEIMPERATUllE ON QUALITY 13 



Relation of Maturity to Quality. — Another factor influencing 

 the quality of vegetables is the stage of development or maturity 

 at which the product is gathered. Nearly all vegetables are in 

 their most edible stage before reaching full maturity, and remain 

 in the most desirable condition for use a comparatively short time. 

 Market growers have a tendency to allow certain crops to stand 

 too long for the sake of increasing size, or to gather too large a 

 proportion of the crop at one picking, so that specimens of several 

 degrees of ripeness are marketed together, some of which are too 

 old and tough and others too young and watery. Sweet corn and 

 green peas become hard and undesirable if allowed to remain 

 unpicked a few days too long. String beans become too ''stringy," 

 radishes either too woody or too pithy, while in cucumbers and 

 eggplants the seed^ become hard and render the fruit undesirable. 

 Gathering at the proper degree of ripeness has a marked influence 

 upon the quality of vegetables; and here again the home gardener 

 has a decided advantage over the person who tries to purchase 

 palatable vegetables in the market. 



Influence of Temperature on Quality. — Important as are the 

 factors already mentioned, it is impossible to secure high quality 

 in vegetables by proper cooking or serving of a freshly gathered 

 product picked at the right degree of ripeness, unless the vegetables 

 in question have been grown under conditions favorable to the 

 development of a product of high quality. 



Temperature has a marked influence upon the quality of certain 

 vegetables. It is impossible to grow good radishes, lettuce, turnips, 

 spinach, or cauliflower at excessively high temperatures. On the 

 other hand, there are certain vegetables which require hot weather 

 to develop their full quahty, and which refuse to grow or develop 

 at low temperature. Watermelons, muskmelons and tomatoes are 

 examples. 



The moisture supply is another factor which influences the 

 quality of vegetables. Cool-season crops having a short period 

 of growth, especially those in which the root, stem or leaves con- 

 stitute the edible part, require an abundance of moisture through- 

 out their entire period of growth ; and an ample supply is especially 

 important at the time they reach edible maturity. A drought 

 setting in just before radishes or lettuce are ready to use will ruin 

 their flavor. If deficiency in moisture is accompanied by high 

 temperature, as it often is, the influence on the flavor of these 

 crops is still more marked than when one factor is acting alone. 



