0. GASPA11RINI ON THE RIPENING OF FIGS. 



11 



mouth would promote the ripening. The three fruit which were 

 submitted to the experiment remained unaltered. But the same 

 experiment repeated this year had the contrary effect. 



The following substances were inefficacious in such fruit as 

 were submitted to their action ; — glycerine in twenty-two parts 

 of sulphate of soda, eight of English salt, nine of sulphite of 

 carbon, six of saltpetre, seven of solution of tannin, nine of 

 common salt or chloride of sodium, nine of carbonate of ammonia, 

 and three of solution of potash in four parts of glycerine. 



Such is the result of the new experiments made in two succes- 

 sive years, in August and the first half of September. The best time, 

 however, in the climate of Naples is from the end of July through 

 the whole of August, which is the time in which, for the most 

 part, the fruit of the Fig is, as it were, stationary, or, so to speak, 

 in the act of growing, while in September they ripen succes- 

 sively in great numbers — so that the criterion is not to be trusted 

 whether they ripen naturally, or whether the maturation is pro- 

 moted by other agents. If, considering their variety and their 

 almost uniform effect, we wish to arrive at a certain or probable 

 explanation of the intrinsic manner of their action, it would be 

 necessary above all to ascertain the most important circumstances 

 which take place in the short period in which artificial ripening is 

 completed, in distinction from the natural maturation. The more 

 notable points, in my opinion, and the most tangible, are few, and 

 reducible to four. 



1. In natural maturation, while the fruit grows and softens, no 

 material alteration appears to the eye in the scales which close 

 the mouth, nor do they become hard, or tender, or change colour ; 

 they remain fresh and perfect till decomposition takes place. 



2. On the contrary the oily fatty liquids, fat, unctuous, solid 

 matters, the acids, almost everything which has the power to ac- 

 celerate maturation, induces at first a sensible alteration in the scales, 

 making them tender, causing them to become brown, from green 

 to become reddish, then to dry up and wither, — effects which are 

 not produced by the neutral substances, as glycerine, chloride of 

 sodium, nitrate of potash, and the others above mentioned. 



3. The effects of acids are manifested only when applied to the 

 mouth of the fig ; they are quite inert on any other part of the 

 receptacle. 



4. In the same manner, the oils and fatty matters produce a 

 premature ripening only when applied to the mouth, being inert 



