STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 9 



relations existing between the sperm and ovule seem to depend 

 largely on these tendencies. They must not be too widely separated, 

 nor yet too closely allied, in their characteristics. There must exist 

 an affinity between the two. If too wide apart there can be no new 

 individual formed, and if too much alike, either no new individual 

 or a deficient one. Nature seems severe in compelling compliance 

 with these demands. 



As I have said, the laws of breeding have been more generally 

 observed in connection with live stock improvement, but, do not the 

 same laws hold true in the vegetable kingdom. Have there not been 

 made as great improvements through breeding in some lines of vege- 

 tables and flowers, as there have been in horses or cattle. Many of 

 the flowering plants show the breeder's skill and study. And the 

 modern tomato and cabbage are not much like those of years ago. 

 Most of these improvements have been made through successive 

 generations until a type had become fixed, and then you have sperm 

 and ovule with the fixed tendencies and characteristics, and can pro- 

 ceed with intelligence to a greater degree of excellence. 



But how is it in the orchard ? Have we there any pollen or 

 ovule with fixed tendencies ? Do we know anything about what a 

 Ben Davis ovule and Willow Twig pollen will give us in a new indi- 

 vidual. If a Ben Davis had been produced by a long line of breed- 

 ing, where its characteristics were more firmly fixed each succeeding 

 generation, we could then then know just what were the tendencies 

 of the ovule. Then if we had pollen from a Willow Twig bred in 

 the same way, we could tell very nearly what our offspring would 

 be. But most of our orchard fruits were not formed in this way. 

 They were accidentally bred, apparently sports, where quality ruled. 

 Is not the time coming when we will be compelled to have these 

 fixed characteristics to work with to secure the features needed in a 

 new individual for the orchard ? 



In live stock breeding we have to consider only the influence of 

 the sperm upon the ovule and do not calculate that the male parent 

 affects any more than the developing ovule. But in the vegetable 

 world there is another feature in connection with the fertilization of 

 the ovule, and to bring it to your minds was the object of this paper, 

 and for which the preceding was intended to be explanatory. 



It is the influence of the pollen extended beyond the ovule into 

 the fruit. Is there such an influence extending into the ovary ; the 

 receptacle and even into the parent itself ? Many varieties of 

 strawberries show either an absence of pollen, or that the pollen 

 that is supplied is lacking in affinity for the ovules. These varieties 

 are called pistillate and we supply pollen from some other variety to 

 obtain a thrifty and profitable growth of the berries. But of what 

 use is the pollen at all ? The berry is but the developed receptacle 

 for holding the seeds, or the true fruit. Is it necessary that the 



