STUDIES ON APPLES. 



I. STORAGE, RESPIRATION, AND GROWTH. 



REVIEW OF WORK ON THE RIPENING AND RESPIRATION OF FRUITS. 



In the following resume of works on this subject, the review of 

 Gerber has been used as a guide to the French memoirs on the 

 subject. 



The earliest source available in the original was the paper of Berard. 6 

 This author carried on elaborate researches on the ripening and res- 

 piration of fruits, his results apparently contradicting those of De 

 Saussure, c whose conclusions were considered not to be sufficiently 

 well established by experiments, De Saussure having put forth the 

 idea that green fruits act like leaves toward the atmosphere surround- 

 ing them, in light or darkness. 



Berard studied the effect produced by unripe strawberries and many 

 other unripe fruits on the air surrounding them by keeping them for 

 twenty-four-hour periods in air in large flasks sealed by mercury. 

 He found in all cases an increase of carbon dioxid at the expense of 

 oxygen, and in no case the reverse change. Similar experiments were 

 tried on fruits still attached to the tree (apricots, peaches, and plums), 

 with the result that the fruit did not mature, but became withered 

 and browned, showing apparently that oxygen is necessaiy for the 

 ripening of fruits. Experiments are also described in which fruits 

 were kept for long periods of time in inert gases carbon dioxid, 

 hydrogen, or nitrogen, and in vacuo. These experiments were not 

 considered successful, for it was found that the fruit lost its odor and 

 acquired a disagreeable taste. 



In the second contribution d methods for the analysis of fruits are 

 presented, and analyses given of many fruits when green and when 

 ripe, viz, apricots, currants, cherries, plums, peaches, and pears. 



De Saussure* confirmed his previous work, published in 1804, by a 

 report of new experiments, which differ widely in their results from 



Annales des sciences naturelles, 1896 (8), 4: 1. 



6 Ann. chim. phys., 1821 (2), 16: 152, 225. 



c Recherches chimiques sur la vegetation, Paris, 1804. 



<* Ibid., p. 225. 



*Ann. chim. phys., 1821 (2), 19: 143, 225. 



