104 STATE BOAKD OF ACJKICULTURE. 



imuked. Ti)C exact numbers were lost, but those heads which were kept cov- 

 ered produced about two-thirds as many seeds as those not covered. Very 

 small insects may have gone into the ilowcrs, but no bees could reach tliem. 

 In 1S78, eight iieads of red clover of the same age were marl*od. Four of 

 them were covered with muslin bags, till all were dead ripe ; tlie rest were left 

 uncovered. The heads covered yielded respectively, 18, 30, 38 and 41 seeds ; 

 those uncovered yielded 4G, 54, 43, 57. The total speeds from covered heads, 

 137; from uncovered, 200. In a similar manner, during 1879, 31 young lieads 

 of the first crop of red clover were covered before any flowers oi)ened. Only 

 one produced any seeds and that bore seven. At the same time 31 other young 

 heads were marked for comparison, and. yielded respectively the following num- 

 ber of seeds: 11, 12, 2, 35, 40, 21, 3, 1, 22, 15, 15, 20, 10, 4, 29, 3, 25, 8, 15, 

 22, 24, 28, 41, 10, 22, 13, 18, 18, 10, 12, 10, an average of nearly 17 seeds 

 per head. 



On August 9th, 9 heads were covered before any flowers had opened. When 

 ripe they yielded seeds as follows, 36, 51, 45, 59, 15, 20, 47, 31, 28; an average 

 of about 37^ seeds to the head. Eleven heads which were covered yielded no 

 seeds. The experiments of each year were made by three different trusty stu- 

 dents. In nearly every case, the heads which were covered soon fell to the 

 ground where they remained till ripe. This may have interfered more or lees 

 with the production of seeds. 



Are Bees of any Advantage or Disadvantage to Buckiuheat ? 



Some experiments were begun with a view of determining this question, but 

 the grasshoppers ate holes through our netting and the dry weather killed or 

 damaged a part of our plants. The results are not reliable. 



Hyhridizing Cherries. 



Pollen of the cherry known as Governor Wood was used to fertilize the pis- 

 tils of the cherry known as Kentish or Early Richmond. In all cases the pre- 

 caution was taken to castrate the flowers and cover them with sacks before the 

 pistils could be fertilized. Only four specimens matured. None of these ger- 

 minated. 



Hyhridiz ing Bas^ihcrries. 



Perhaps a dozen, probably more, flowers of the golden cap raspberry were 

 castrated and protected till ready for pollen. The pollen used was that of the 

 red raspberry known as Brandywine. These plants belong to two different 

 species ; one is a sucker sort, the other a tip sort. The berries set freely and 

 all matured well. Many seeds germinated, from which we have a fine lot of 

 new varieties. 



Crossing Tomatoes. 



The seeds from the cross last year did not germinate well for some reason. 

 Ten or a dozen plants were set out. The fruit of all of them was of good shape 

 and quite early. Seeds were saved for further trial and for the purpose of es- 

 tablishing new varieties. This season the Conqueror was used for the mother 

 and Early Smooth Red as the father in making our crosses. We saved quite a 

 lot of seeds. 



