224 EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



to cultural methods and conditions. However, in the case of 

 the Ben Davis a study of the table on page 199 shows clearly 

 not only the general influence of the different regions on size, 

 but also that of different seasons, and almost invariably a lower 

 summer mean is accompanied by decreased size. 



6. Scalding in Storage. — It has been shown by Powell ^ and 

 Beach - that immature apples are more likely to scald in storage 

 than are those that have been well matured on the trees. In 

 order to keep longest in storage an apple should have fully com- 

 pleted the stages of growth and ripening on the tree, and been 

 picked and without delay placed and kept in a temperature 

 barely above the freezing point of the fruit. In practice it is 

 necessary to allow a margin for safety, owing to possible lack of 

 uniformity of the temperature at dift'erent times and in differ- 

 ent parts of the storage rooms, but the better the control of the 

 temperature the closer may the ideal conditions be approached. 

 It is probable that scalding may also appear on fruit that has 

 I'cen poorly grown, but still has reached full maturity. The 

 chemical work here reported indicates that fruit matured on 

 poor soil or under unfavorable cultural conditions may be in 

 some respects similar to immature fruit. The poorly grown 

 fruit is lower in most of the soluble solids. 



When a variety is grown where the summer mean tempera- 

 ture is excessively high we note the following effects : — 



1. Uneven Ripening. — Summer and fall varieties always 

 show a tendency to ri])en unevenly, making it desirable to make 

 two or more pickings as the different specimens reach maturity. 

 Late fall and winter sorts show less evidence of this, though a 

 difference in the maturity of specimens in a lot of winter fruit 

 may be detected without difficulty. Inasmuch as the result of 

 growing a variety south of its natural range is to cause earlier 

 maturity, and fall varieties tend to become summer varieties, it 

 is to be expected that the uneven ripening characteristic of sum- 

 mer sorts should follow. This is not marked with winter varie- 

 ties unless they are grown a considerable distance south of their 

 most favorable localities. 



' Bureau of Plant Industry, Bulletin 48. 



2 New York Experiment Station, Bulletin 248; Iowa Experiment Station, Bulletin 108. 



