ispp* 
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Vol. XL. No. 10. 
Whole No. 1623. 
Price Five Gents. 
82.00 Per Tear, 
[Entered according to Act of ConKTORS, in the year 1881, by the Rural New-Yorker. In the office of the Librarian of Conarress at WaehlnB-ton.] 
they are generally more sour to the taste 
Whatever may be the effect of the temper¬ 
ature of the season and of the amount and 
distribution of the sunlight on the quality of 
the fruit, we must make the best of it. for we 
cannot change the weather; but cultivation of 
fruit generally improves its quality, at least in 
regard to its proportion of sugar and acid, by 
iuereasing the one and lessening the other, 
although the wild fruit may excel in delicacy 
of aroma. Some wild berries have, however, 
shown quite as favorable a proportion of 
sugar aud acid as has beeu found iu the best 
cultivated varieties that have been analyzed. 
That the character of the manuring has some¬ 
thing to do with the change in the quality of 
the fruit is shown by some experiments by Dr. 
Goessman, at the Mass. Agricultural College. 
By manuring the wild grape liberally with 
potash and phosphoric acid, he changed the 
ratio of sugar to acid to that of the Concord 
Grape. That the potash may take some 
special part in the modificatiou of the ratio is 
indicated oy the fact that the cultivated berry 
contains over twice as large a proportion of this 
substance in its ash as is found in the ash of 
the more sour wild fruit. Patting all these 
facts together, it seems reasonable to hope that 
by judicious use of concentrated fertilizers, 
sweeter small fruits might be produced at the 
pleasure of the gardener. This is a promising 
and inviting field for experimentation, which 
has been but little occupied, and satisfactory 
experiments with small fruits can be couducted 
on a less extensive scale and at less expense 
than with field crops. 
STBAWBEBRIES. 
V. T. LYON. 
Mr experience during the past season has 
developed little reliable or conclusive as to the 
status of the newer candidates for popular 
change iu the ratio iB due both to an increase in 
the percentage of sugar and a diminution in 
respect to the acid. 
Arranging the small fruits according to 
their richness m sugar and in acid on the basis 
of such analyses as have been made, they stand 
in the following order : 
Sugar Add. 
Gooseberry.7. Strawberry. ..0.9 
Currant.0,4 Blackberry... ..1.2 
Strawberry.6.3 Gooseberry.1.4 
Blueberry.5. Raspberry.1.4 
Blackberry. .4.4 Blueberry..1.6 
Raspberry . 4 . Currant .2.1 
Only a single analysis each of the raspberry 
and blackberry has been made ; on a better 
acquaintance with their chemical composition 
they might be located differently with respect 
ripe peach. There is a concentration of the 
agreeable effect which is not produced by a 
drier and more insoluble fruit whose ingredi¬ 
ents act more slowly on the palate. 
It is well known that the quality of the fruit 
depends in some measure ou the character of 
the season, both the aroma and the proportion 
of sugar to acid being thereby affecied. 
Sehuebeler found that in the short but unin¬ 
terrupted sunlight of Scandinavia, the aroma 
of fruits was stronger than that of the same 
kinds of fruits grown further South, but the 
sweetness was less; plums were so sour as to 
seem unripe to those accustomed to the plums 
of southern climates ; but while the strawber¬ 
ries of Portugal were very sweet and large, 
GRAPES. 
STRAWBERRIES. 
Raspberries and Blackberries. 
CURRANTS & GOOSEBERRIES. 
TrinUwortliy Information Kespecting 
Now Varieties by our First 
Horticultural Authorities. 
THE BEST OF THE OLD KINDS. 
All there is to be said about them. 
Timely Instructions, Hints and Suggestions 
for the Approaching Spring. 
THE RELATION BETWEEN THE CHEMI¬ 
CAL COMPOSITION AND THE 
QUALITY OF FRUITS. 
PROFESSOR 0. C. CALDWELL. 
The most important constituents of fruits, 
that affect their quality for eating, are the 
sugars, the acids, aud a group of tasteless, gel¬ 
atinous or gummy substances belonging mostly 
to what chemists call the pectose group. The 
good quality of the fruit depends on the rela¬ 
tive proportions of all these three kinds of 
substances First in importance iB the propor¬ 
tion of sugar to acid; secondly, the effect of 
this proportion may be modified by the relative 
quantity of the substances of the last-men¬ 
tioned group; though tasteless they may so 
inclose the acid aud mask its sour taste aa to 
CUTHBERT RASPBERRY, FROM LIFE.—Fig. 109.—Disseminated in the Rural 
New-Yorker's Free Seed and Plant Distribution of 1879-80. 
diminish its unfavorable effect when present 
in too large proportion. The pleasant quality 
of the fruit is also dependent on its aroma, 
due to minute quantities of volatile oils, and 
on the proportion of soluble to insoluble 
matter; if there is much soluble matter, well 
flavored, and much water, the fruit melts in 
the mouth when the cells are crushed, like a 
they were poor in aroma and flavor as com¬ 
pared with the Scandinavian berries. The 
climatic influence on the quality of fruit is 
otherwise shown iu the ratio of sugar to acid 
in the case of wild strawberries, which in one 
year may contain only two parts of sugar to 
one of acid, but in a more favorable season may 
contain 8.5 parts of sugar to one of acid, This 
to the other fruits. Noue of these fruits, how¬ 
ever. stands so high as the grape, with its aver¬ 
age proportion of 14 4 per cent, of sugar, and 
only 0.8 per cent, of acid. Compared with 
stoue and core fruits, the berries contain a 
larger proportion of acid, and at the same time 
less of the neutral substances to cover up aud 
temper the acid, so that for a doable reason 
favor; I therefore rely, to a considerable ex¬ 
tent,upon the observation, experience and con¬ 
clusions of others In the following remarks 
upon varieties: 
Sharplkss is very satisfactory so far as the 
vigor of the plant and the siza of the fruit are 
concerned, but it is too soft, and there is much 
doubt of its ability to sustain its reputation as 
