No. 574] VARIATION IN THE APPLE 



to develop the fruit to a proper stage to keep well, soon 

 wilt, lose flavor and scald, or show other evidence of de- 

 terioration as was frequently observed in the fruit from 

 high altitudes. On the other hand, too great excess of 

 certain factors results in overgrown or overripe fruit 

 having a tendency to rot, mealiness, or physiological de- 

 cay, as in the case of the Yellow Bellflowers from Puyal- 

 lup and some of the fruit from the warm valleys. The 

 balance of factors favorable to good keeping quality does 

 not appear to differ much from that which produces the 

 fruit which is most desirable in other characters, though 

 it is possible that the required intensity of some factors 

 may be slightly lower. It appears, therefore, that a good 

 balance of the other characters of the fruit and perfect 

 adaptation to the environment will be accompanied, as a 

 rule, by good keeping quality, provided that the fruit is 

 properly handled and not infected with disease, while an 

 unbalanced adaptation of characters to environment is 

 likely to result in poor keeping quality. It seems prob- 

 able that irrigation in itself does not result in poor keep- 

 ing except when improperly applied or carried to excess, 

 or associated with other factors in such a way as to de- 



Specific Gravity. — It has long been understood that 

 varieties of apples differ in their relative weights ; thus 

 Wolf River is comparatively light and Baldwin is gener- 

 ally regarded as a heavy apple. The only record found 

 of the determination of specific gravity of apples is that 

 of Howard's work in the National Bureau of Chemistry, 

 Bulletin 94, in which it is noted that the specific gravity 

 diminished 3 per cent, to 5 per cent, during storage. 

 From the account it is not clear whether the determina- 

 tions at the different dates were made with the same 

 apples. The decrease of specific gravity is ascribed to the 

 increase of air spaces between the cells due to the soften- 

 ing of the middle lamella. In the specific gravity determi- 

 nations made by the writer a number of points was noted. 



