10 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



ovules of these small seeds have the action of pollen that there be a 

 development of the receptacle, generally considered an independent 

 part of the plant ? If not necessary why do we plant staminate 

 varieties with pistillate varieties, and if necessary, what do we gain 

 by so planting ? The modification of the form of the strawberry 

 directly from the pollen, is a matter in which there is a conflict of 

 opinions. Experiments made in a number of recorded cases, did not 

 show any marked difference in the fruit from the use of different 

 varieties of pollen on the same pistillate variety. My own observa- 

 tion with several acres of Crescents, a part of which was fertilized 

 with Captain Jack and a part with Wilson's Albany, was that there 

 seemed to be more or less of a modification of form from the pollen. 

 I could not say that there was any decided influence in a large por- 

 tion of the berries, but that there was, in some of them, such a 

 modification I believe. Many other fruits also seem to show occa- 

 sional slight modifications. 



But even if this influence was a strong one, could we expect 

 any definite results from the parents that we use. Strawberries and 

 most other fruits, like apples, have pollen and ovule without fixed 

 characteristics, and have but a slight tendency to reproduce their 

 own qualities ; and we should no more expect certain results from 

 them, than from animals of mixed blood. 



If there is any direct modification of the fruit as to size, form 

 and quality , it seems to be so slight as to be of little importance to 

 us, only as it indicates another influence from the pollen. In the 

 production of a new individual the element of first importance is its 

 vitality. That is, its desire to live. Its ability to resist adversity, 

 whether in form of bacteria, or some other enemy that may be in- 

 vited by some fault in its environments. This vitality does not 

 depend upon vigor of growth, nor complete functions. The man who 

 lived through untold agonies in AndersonviUe prison, who amputated 

 his feet himself and sawed off the bones with his jack knife, had 

 probably no better functions than many of his comrades who died 

 with first symptoms of gangrene; but he had more vitality. The 

 plum that matures with the mark of the little Turk upon it seems to 

 be different in no respect from the one that drops undeveloped, but 

 it has more vitality. A morning that blights one strawberry, may 

 not another. 



This element of vitality seems to depend largely on the proper 

 observance of Nature's laws in reproduction. I consider one of the 

 most important of these is that there be a variation in the tenden- 

 cies of the pollen and ovule. To get this variation it is better to 

 use pollen from another individual than the one that furnished the 

 ovule. As the development of the fruit — the receptacle or ovary — 

 depends upon the fertilization of the ovule, the vitality of the re- 



