72 PLANT HYBRIDIZATION BEFORE MENDEL 



no fruits, nor later in the Botanical Garden, according to the 

 gardener, 



"and for my part," Gleditsch adds, "I have never remarked, among the 

 flowers which fall every year from this palm, any perfect fruit; still 

 less have I been able to observe any which encloses a fertile seed." (p. 

 io6.) 



In the spring of 1749, Gleditsch (p. 106) was able to obtain, 

 from the botanists Ludwig and Boehmer at Leipzig, flowers of a 

 male plant growing there in the garden of a certain Caspar Bose. 

 Gleditsch states as follows : 



"I received them in the spring of 1749, during the days which were 

 already very warm. The heat of the sun had completely withered and 

 spoiled the packets of stamens, and the greater part of the powder had 

 escaped from the seminal vesicles. I collected in a small spoon a part of 

 this powder, which was spread for the time on the paper with which the 

 box was lined on the interior." (p. 106.) 



The journey from Leipzig had taken nine days, during which 

 time the pistillate palm at Berlin, on account of the heat, had 

 entirely finished flowering, so that there remained only a very 

 small number of flowers at the tips of the branches; in addition 

 to which, however, unexpectedly, a small cluster of new flowers 

 bloomed late. The pollen, which had escaped from the anthers and 

 adhered to the paper, was spread upon the pistillate flowers, and 

 the packet of already mouldy stamens was applied to the flower 

 cluster that had bloomed late. 



"This sprinkling of the fecundation powder having been done, the 

 fecundation had the success I would have expected; the vegetati n- 

 bladders swelled in great number, and became filled with a fertile setting 

 of seed, suitable for further propagation; these became veritable little 

 eggs." (p. 107.) 



"These little eggs or seeds ripened in the fruits the last winter, and 

 having been planted in the ground at the beginning of the spring of 1750, 

 plants have come from them conformable to their origin, that is to say, 

 little palms, which testify in an incontestable manner that vegetable fe- 

 cundation has been fully accomplished." (p. 107.) 



Another pollination experiment was made in 175'0. Another 

 packet of male flowers was obtained from Leipzig. Of this experi- 

 ment, Gleditsch states : 



"Its particles have promptly penetrated the stigmas of our female 

 palm, and have the efficacy of fecundating a great quantity of fruits or 

 dates, of which I have presented the clusters to the Academy in order 

 to submit them to its examination." (p. 107.) 



"This so simple attempt at the artiKcial fecundation of our palm makes 



