322 



MATURATION OF THE PEKICAEP. 



100-00 



100-00 



The following table shows the changes produced on the water, sugar, 

 and cellulose, in 100 parts of unripe and ripe fruits : — 



It is not easy in all cases to determine the exact time when the 

 fruit is ripe. In dry fruits, the period immediately before dehiscence 

 is considered as that of maturation ; but, in pulpy fruits, there is much 

 uncertainty. It is usual to say that edible fruits are ripe when their 

 ingredients are in such a state of combination as to give the most 

 agreeable flavour. This occurs at difierent periods in different fruits. 

 After succulent fruits are ripe, in the ordinary sense, so as to be capable 

 of being used for food, they undergo further changes, by the oxidation 

 of their tissues, even after being separated from the plant. In some 

 cases these changes improve the quality of the fruit, as in the case of 

 the Medlar, the austerity of which is thus still further diminished. In 

 the Pear, this process, called by Lindley hUtting (from the French, blessi), 

 renders it soft, but still fit for food ; while in the Apple it causes a 

 decay which acts injuriously on its qualities. By this process of oxi- 

 dation the whole fruit is ultimately reduced to a putrefactive mass, 

 which probabl^acts beneficially in promoting the germination of the 

 seeds when the fruit drops on the ground. 



The period of time required for ripening the fruit varies in dif- 

 ferent plants. Most plants ripen their fruit within a year from the 

 time of the expansion of the flower. Some come to maturity in a few 

 days, others require some months. Certain plants, as some Coniferae, 

 require more than a year, and in the Metrosideros the fruit remains 

 attached to the branch for several years. The following is a general 

 statement of the usual time required for the maturation of different 

 kinds of fruit : — 



