STORAGE, RESPIRATION, AND GROWTH. 17 



from which oil is formed, and affirm that mannite does not occur in the 

 fruit of the olive. 



Keim" studied changes in the composition of the flesh of cherries at 

 intervals of from seven to ten days. As the fruit ripened the percent- 

 age of water decreased, and both acid and sugar increased with total 

 dry matter. In the early stages of growth, citric, malic, and succinic 

 acids were present, but nine days before ripeness the succinic acid 

 disappeared. Dextrose and levulose are always present, while inosite, 

 which at first was present in appreciable quantity, diminished to a mere 

 trace. Sucrose was present in small amount. No starch was found in 

 the fruit save in the outer green layer of the very young fruit, but it 

 occurred in the parenchyma cells of the fruit stem in increasing 

 amounts as the fruit ripened. 



Kulisch 6 presented a valuable discussion of the changes in the con- 

 stituents of ripening fruits, giving also an account of a study of the 

 changes which a variety of apples underwent on storing at cellar tem- 

 perature. The fruit from two trees of the same variety in the same 

 orchard were employed and analyzed separately, so that the results 

 have further interest in showing how the composition of fruit from 

 different trees of the same variety, grown under the same cultural 

 conditions, may vary. (See p. 31 and tig. 6, p. 30.) 



The growth of a single variety of apples was thoroughly studied by 

 LindeV who examined the fruit at fifteen-day intervals through the 

 growing season (see p. 24 and fig. 29, p. 63). He established the 

 fact that the acid content gradually became less, and that the starch 

 increased by degrees until the fruit began to ripen, when it decreased 

 gradually. Sucrose and invert sugar increased steadily up to the last 

 analysis. A portion of each sample received was left in darkness and 

 analyzed at intervals. The starch decreased gradually to about 0.8 

 per cent, sucrose and invert sugar increased, while total carbohydrates 

 fell, allowance being made for loss of moisture by the fruit on being 

 kept. These changes are recognized as taking place: '(1) ^he change 

 of starch into sucrose; (2) the inversion of sucrose; and (3) the con- 

 sumption of invert sugar in respiration. The change of starch into 

 sucrose is said to be a chemical phenomenon whose mechanism escapes 

 us. The localization and disappearance of starch in apples is described, 

 and a description of the starch grains is given. 



C. A. Browne, jr.,"' noted the starch and sugar changes of a sample 

 of Baldwin apples, picked green, obtaining results similar to those of 

 Lindet and those obtained in the Bureau of Chemistry. Otto* also 



Zts. anal. Chem., 1892, 30: 401, abstr. in Agr. Science, 1892, : 387. 



6 Land w. Jahrb., 1892,. 21: 871. 



cAnn. agron., 1894, 20: 5-20. 



rfPenn. State Dept. Agr., Bui. 58. 



^Centrbl. agrikulturchem. (Biedermann), 1902, 31: 107. 



27981 Bui. 94 05 2 



