1 204 Relation of Color to Flavor in Frtiits & Vegetables. [December, 



of-a-iruit^JtlirQUgli-sekcti&n^ we - can eliminate acid and solidity, 

 orif-by darkening the flesh of another fruit, already too tender 

 and insipid, in the same way, we can heighten its characteristic 

 flavor, and increase its firmness, we have gained a new faculty in 

 the work of making the products of nature subservient to our 

 w^nts. 



The hypothesis was therefore assumed, that in a white flesh, in 

 fruits and, vegetables, we escape solidity, and a strongly marked 

 characteristic flavor, with a gain, or at least without a loss, of 

 sweetness. This hypothesis was applied to the fruits and vege- 

 tables of which I have been able to find complete descriptions. 

 The results of my researches will be given further on. 



If the law exists which my hypothesis assumes, it is evident 

 that the processes of selection have operated more or less to 

 obliterate the marks by which it may be traced. Seedlings or 

 sports yielding fruits having a very harsh or acid flavor have been 

 rejected, whatever the color of their flesh. On the contrary, 

 deep colofed samples possessing a pleasant flavor, though excep- 

 tions to the law, have been preserved. Thus in many cases we 

 are compelled to trace out the law with but half of the evidence. 

 For example, the blood clingstone peach, which is said by Mr. 

 Downing to have flesh " very red, like that of the beet," is pro- 

 nounced " not fit for eating." Red fleshed peaches are very rarely 

 mentioned in our fruit books. Possibly the reason why so few 

 red fleshed varieties have been preserved is, that their flavor and 

 firmness were such as to make them undesirable. 



We may fairly assume that palatability has been a leading prin- 

 ciple in selection, and that the color of flesh has had influence 

 only in a few cases where appearance is of some importance. (In 

 the currant, the principal use of which is in the manufacture of 

 jelly, the red color is preferable, because, as every one knows, 

 the rich crimson color of jelly made from red currants is more 

 attractive than the pale color of that made from the white cur- 

 rant, though it is equally well known the latter has decidedly the 

 milder flavor. So in the beet and carrot, the rich colors of the 

 deep red varieties of the one, and orange sorts of the other, are 

 more desirable for the table than the paleness of the milder white 

 varieties ; and further, as there is no acid in these roots to over- 

 come in their amelioration, their agreeable characteristic flavors 

 are more developed in the deeper fleshed varieties. In the apple, 



