HANDLING APPLES FROM TREE TO TABLE 5 



of the fruit that sets is subject to error. The time of maturity of dif- 

 ferent fruits on the same tree may vary decidedly. 



The number of days from full bloom to maturity for the varieties 

 on which a long-time study has been made in different sections of the 

 United States (10) is shown in figure 1. The middle part of each bar 



I i i r t > i » i ' i ' i ' i ' i ' ' r ■ r ' '* 



MATURITY 

 E ARLY OPTIMUM LATE 

 VARIETY I II— MTZZZU 



WILLIAMS EARLY RED. 



MCINTOSH 



JONATHAN 



GRIMES GOLDEN—. 



DELICIOUS.— 



GOLDEN DELICIOUS. 

 YELLOW NEWTOWN. 



ROME BEAUTY 



STAYMAN W1NESAP. 



WINESAP. 



YORK IMPERIAI 





I i I 



70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 

 ELAPSED TIME FROM BLOOM (DAYS) 



Figure 1. — Days elapsing from bloom to maturity. For meaning of different parts of 



bars, see text. 



represents the period when the fruit will be at optimum maturity for 

 best dessert and storage qualities. Variations from these periods 

 occurred during certain seasons in different regions; the most obvious 

 reasons for them being variations in the volume of the crop, such as 

 light crops that mature in fewer days and heavy crops that require a 

 greater number of days after full bloom. In certain instances an unu- 

 sually early blossoming season with cool weather during the first month 

 thereafter was followed by a longer than average period to time of 

 maturity, whereas a very late blossoming season with optimum growing 

 conditions thereafter has been known to shorten the period to optimum 

 maturity by nearly a week. 



FIRMNESS AS DETERMINED BY THE PRESSURE TEST 



Firmness, as indicated by the pressure test, has not been found to be 

 a reliable index for determining when apples acquire satisfactory ma- 

 turity for picking (10). Measuring firmness with the pressure tester, 

 however, is useful in determining when apples are becoming overmature 

 and too soft for storage. 



As apples approach maturity they become progressively less resistant 

 to pressure, a characteristic which makes it possible to utilize mechanical 

 means of measuring the rate of softening. Several types of pressure 



