LUTHER BURBANK 



that a market fruit should have an attractive 

 aroma, for both market man and customer often 

 judge the fruit by this quite as much as by the 

 taste. 



Closely associated with the flavor of the plum is 

 the matter of a chemical content that will resist 

 fermentation. A fruit that is too juicy and does 

 not contain enough sugar will ferment very easily, 

 as we have seen in connection with our studies of 

 the prune. Some plums are peculiarly subject to 

 fermentation, particularly if bruised in any way. 

 Plums that contain plenty of sugar are, as we 

 have seen, resistant to fermentation. 



This is one reason why prunes have gained in 

 popularity for shipment in the fresh state to the 

 eastern plum market. There is a good field for 

 investigation as to the particular qualities, in addi- 

 tion to sugar content, that tend to make a fruit 

 resist fermentation. In general it is observed that 

 insipid fruits decay first. 



Highly flavored acid fruits as well as very sweet 

 ones tend to resist fermentation. 



But the precise chemical conditions that have 

 to do with this very important property of resist- 

 ance to decay have been but little investigated. 

 All that the prospective orchardist can do at pres- 

 ent is to select varieties of fruit that have been 

 shown to have good marketable qualities. 



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