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ANNUAL REPORT 1918 AND 1919 



than seventeen per cent Balling scale except Emperor, Gros Coleman, and 

 Cornichon which shall show not less than sixteen per cent Balling scale." 

 The Division of Viticulture, Berkelej', examined nearly 400 samples of 

 grapes being packed for shipment, each sample being tasted and judged by 

 from four to six persons. The results indicated that the standard of 1 7 

 degrees Balling is about right as far as the public taste is concerned. During 

 the shipping season numerous inspectors are employed to test the sugar by 

 means of saccharometers in order to keep the fruit up to standard. 



Olives 



Since the avocado is more nearly comparable to the olive than to any 

 other fruit commonly grown it is interesting to note the standards adopted 

 for the latter fruit. 



Investigations made by the Bureau of Chemistry showed that the in- 

 dex of maturity for olives is the oil content of the flesh. As a tentative 

 standard of maturity for Mission olives and other common varieties except 

 Manzanillo, Ascolano, and Sevillano, an oil content of 1 7 per cent in the 

 flesh is regarded as a minimum. The Manzanillo olive should contain a 

 minimum of 1 5 per cent of oil in the flesh to be regarded as ripe or mature. 



These regulations for olives, however, have little practical value to 

 the grower since he cannot make an oil analysis himself and even if he 

 could do so the process requires too long a period as a rule to have much 

 value. In general growers are advised not to pick olives for ripe pickles 

 before a specified date unless a certain amount of color is developed ; after 

 that date the fruit is picked regardless of color. Green fruit containing 

 less than 1 7 per cent oil can be pickled, packed, and sold as long as the 

 product is not labeled "Ripe olives.** 



Cantaloupes 



The U. S. Bureau of Markets in May, 1918, called attention to the 

 fact that at certain periods fully one-fourth of the Ccintaloupes shipped are 

 so immature when they reach consumers as to be unpalatable and not of 

 fair eating quality. Green* melons have a depressing efl^ect on both demand 

 and price. If only one per cent of the annual production of the Western 

 States should be picked and shipped green, consumers would buy more 

 than 40,000 crates of cantaloupes that have nothing to recommend them 

 as food. Instead of only one per cent fully ten per cent were in 1918 green 

 when they reached far distant consumers. To insure the best eating quality 

 when consumed as well as good carrying quality it was recommended that 

 cantaloupes be picked just before they will slip cleanly from the stem. 



The State Standardization Law reads: "All cantaloupes when 

 packed shall be fully netted, of uniform size, firm and mature.*' 



A satisfactory maturity standard for all avocados will be difficult to 

 establish. Nature has endowed the Sharpless, Dickinson, Challenge, 

 Spinks, and others with a fairly sure sign of maturity in the final change of 

 color from green to purplish — or reddish-black. With those varieties which 

 remain green throughout, the problem is more complex. An oil analysis 

 will not suffice as such an analysis requires too much technical skill to be 

 used widely and the individual fruits show too much variation in fat content 

 as influenced by the long blooming period of the tree and the irregular set- 



