674 



FEUIT GARDEN. 



good in the case of apples, observes in his useful 

 pamphlet on " The Culture of Pyramidal Fruit 

 Trees," p. 17 : " The fruit of pears, more espe- 

 cially those on quince stocks, should not be 

 suffered to ripen on the tree : the summer and 

 autumn varieties should be gathered before they 

 are quite ripe, and left to ripen in the fruit-room. 

 The late pears should be gathered before the 

 leaves take their autumnal tints ; if suffered to 

 remain too long on the trees, they frequently 

 never ripen, but continue hard till they rot. 

 In most seasons, the first and second week in 

 October is a good time, but much depends on 

 soil and climate." This is the season when we 

 gather the majority of our winter pears at Dal- 

 keith ; but it should be remembered we enjoy 

 an autumnal climate almost equal to that of 

 London. In other parts, not only of Scotland, 

 but even of this same county, should frosts 

 not occur, the latter end of the month may 

 be in quite sufficient time. 



Mr Downing describes the American prac- 

 tice of gathering and keeping apples as fol- 

 Jows : " In order to secure soundness and pre- 

 servation, it is indispensably necessary that 

 the fruit should be gathered by hand. For 

 winter fruit the gathering is delayed as long 

 as possible, avoiding severe frosts ; and the 

 most successful practice with our extensive 

 orchardists is to place the good fruit directly, in 

 a careful manner, in new tight flour-barrels, as 

 soon as gathered from the tree. These barrels 

 should be gently shaken whilst filling, and the 

 head closely pressed in ; they are then placed 

 in a cool shady place, as under a shed open to 

 the air, or on the north side of a building, pro- 

 tected by a covering of boards over the top, 

 where they remain for a fortnight, or until the 

 cold becomes too severe, when they are carefully 

 transferred to a cool dry cellar, in which air 

 can be admitted occasionally in brisk weather. 

 Some persons place a layer of clean rye-straw 

 between every layer of apples when packing 

 them in barrels. When apples are exported, 

 each fruit in the barrel should be wrapped in 

 clean coarse paper, and the barrels should be 

 placed in a dry airy place between decks." 



In regard to gathering apples and pears, we 



may here remark, as a pretty general rule, that 

 both pears and apples should be gathered when 

 they will scarcely hang any longer on the tree : 

 this is the true criterion of their being ripe. 

 There are, however, exceptions to this rule, both 

 amongst apples and pears : amongst the latter 

 we may instance Williams' Bon Chretien and 

 the Flemish beauty, both of which must be 

 gathered before they readily fall from the tree, 

 otherwise they become too musky to be plea- 

 sant ; they, with the Jargonelle, when the object 

 is to prolong their season, should be partly 

 gathered before they become ripe, and placed 

 in the coolest and darkest part of the fruit-room, 

 with a view to retard their ripening. Those left 

 on the tree to ripen will come into use first, 

 and be followed by those soonest pulled. In 

 some seasons that excellent pear, the Glout 

 moroeau, will, and may remain on the tree till 

 after the leaves have fallen. 



All fruits undergo considerable changes dui> 

 ing their growth and maturation. At first they 

 are tasteless or slightly bitter; when more ad- 

 vanced, they acquire a sour taste from the pro- 

 duction of acids : in the apple and gooseberry is 

 found malic acid; in the grape, tartaric acid; in 

 the red currant, citric acid. As maturation ap- 

 proaches, the acids diminish in quantity, becom- 

 ing at first neutralised, and afterwards partially 

 decomposed by the alkalies present in the fruit; 

 the cellulose forming the sides of the cells and 

 vessels is transformed, and, together with the 

 gum, is changed into grape-sugar, which is the 

 keeping material in fruits. Apples or pears 

 gathered before they have arrived at maturity 

 do not keep because of the absence of their due 

 share of sugar; and grapes, if not perfectly 

 ripened before their season of growth ceases, will 

 not keep, but shrivel and continue sour, on 

 account of the absence of saccharine matter, and 

 presence of tartaric acid. 



The changes which take place during ripen- 

 ing are thus shown by Professor Balfour in 

 " Class Book of Botany," p. 606, to consist 

 chiefly of a diminution of the quantity of 

 water and of ligneous matter, and an increase 

 of the quantity of sugar. The changes in these 

 ingredients are thus tabulated : — 



Berard thinks that these changes in fruits de- 

 pend essentially on the action of the oxygen of 

 the air. Fleshy fruits, he says, may be pre- 

 served with little alteration for many weeks 



in vacuo, in nitrogen, and in hydrogen gas. 

 Peaches, plums, and apricots may be kept for 

 twenty or thirty days, and pears and apples for 

 three months, in a sealed bottle containing a 



