SECRETARY'S REPORT. 153 



flowers are found on one plant and the female on another, which 

 is the cuse with some varieties of the strawberry, but not with all. 



Impregnation is effected by the- action of the pollen (jr fertilizing 

 granules, which, when the flowers first open, is covered by a del- 

 icate membrane about the anther. This membrane soon bursts 

 open and t^cutters the pollen, a portion of which falls on the stigma 

 of the pistil and penetrates through the style to the ovary. Here 

 impregnation is effected and a new embryo plant soon commences 

 formaiion. Sometimes, where the ovary is composed of several 

 cells, as in the apple and pear, impregnation is only partially ef- 

 fected, and hence the development of the fruit is only partial and 

 one-sided. 



Hybridization is performed by fertilizing the pistil of one species 

 or variety wiili pollen from the stamens of another. Manj' pre- 

 cauti()i:K are necessary to insure success, the principal of which are 

 first to remove tiie stamens from the plant intended for the mother 

 before they shed sluj pollen upon the pistil ; and next, after the 

 proper application of pollen from the destined male parent and at 

 just tlie right time, to guard the flower from accidental impregna- 

 tion from other varieties. 



As soon as the ovary is impregnated and begins to swell, the 

 petals, stamens and other parts of the flower, no longer required, 

 fall off, and the fruit sels, as we say. It now continues to receive 

 food, and gradually arrives at maturity. 



Propagation akd Nursery Treatment. 



First bij seeds. Fruit trees are grown from seeds mainly for the 

 pui'pose of obtaining stocks upon which to bud or engraft the choice 

 varieties ; sometimes for the purpose of obtaining new varieties. 

 The seeds of the apple, the pear, &c., will always produce their 

 own species, but not the same varieLics; that is to say, apple seeds 

 will always grow into apple trees, and never into pears, and pear 

 seeds will produce pear trees and not apples ; but the seeds of a 

 Rhode Island Greening or of a Roxbury Russet may not be relied 

 upon to produce a greening or a russet. It is by means of varia- 

 tions, primarily induced by the conditions attending culture, that 

 we now have delicious varieties of fruit from the original crab 

 apple and wild choke pear ; and there exists in all cultivated fruits 

 a tendeticy to variation by means of their seeds, and this variation 

 is partly in the direction of a return to the wild type, and partly 



