Strawberries and cucumbers have been ripened in a forcing frame.
The flowers appear early in spring, and the fruit is ripened about the end of September.
The fruit of the peach is produced on the ripened shoots of the preceding year.
Large quantities of fruits - apples, pears, quinces, peaches, nectarines, apricots, grapes and melons - were exported by special trains to central Europe, where the Turkestan crop was received a short time before the south European supplies ripened.
Many seeds will grow freely if sown in a partially ripened state; but as a general rule seeds have to be kept for some weeks or months in store, and hence they should be thoroughly ripened before being gathered.