EXPERIMENTS WITH ORANGE BLOSSOMS. 23 



EXPERIMENTS WITH ORANGE BLOSSOMS. 



Only 15 experiments of 10 flowers each were performed with orange 

 blossoms and the results were rendered somewhat unsatisfactory for 

 two reasons: (l) The tree- blossomed profusely, but set only a small 

 quantity of fruit. Although no actual calculation was made, it was 

 evident when the trees were examined, September 27, that had the total 

 number of blossoms put forth in the spring produced as good a per- 

 centage of fruits as those experimented with, the trees would have 

 yielded a much heavier crop. (2) Some portions of the trees produced 

 a greater percentage of fruits than other portions. This was espe- 

 cially true of the older limbs, while the younger wood in the tops of 

 the trees produced almost no fruit. Luckily, the records made when 

 the experiments were begun designated the portions of the trees 

 which the blossoms of each experiment occupied, thus explaining 

 some apparent contradictions in the results. For example, experi- 

 ment '.» (see Table III) should have given results similar to those of 

 experiment 8, but unfortunately the blossoms of experiment i> were 

 located in a nonproductive portion of the tree and on the same limb 

 as those of experiment 6, which resulted in no fruits, although it 

 should have produced results similar to those of experiment T had its 

 blossoms been located in as productive a portion of the tree. 



This work was undertaken for the purpose of determining the effect 

 of pollinating orange blossoms before the pistils became receptive. 

 But an examination of blossom buds of different ages showed that the 

 stigmas were receptive (if the presence of stigmatic fluid is a sure indi- 

 cation of receptiveness) in buds that would not have been fully open 

 for nine days. Such a bud is shown by PI. IV. fig. 4, and an emas- 

 culated bud of the same age is shown by fig. 5. The stigmatic fluid 

 can not be easily distinguished in the photograph, but when the emas- 

 culated bud is held in the hand a drop of light-colored fluid is seen in 

 the center of the stigma. The fluid is viscid and pollen adheres readily 

 and abundantly to the very young stigmas. While these young buds 

 did not possess the conditions of nonreceptiveness, they were so young 

 that it was thought better to test the effect of pollinating them at this 

 age rather than work with younger buds. The detailed results of the 

 experiments can be obtained from Table III, which follows. The first 

 nine experiments were performed with flower buds nine days before 

 they would have been open, like the one represented in PI. IV, fig. 4, 

 and the other six with flowers four days older, like the one shown 

 in fig. 3. The records suggest that better success results from work 

 with the buds last mentioned, but it was demonstrated that fruits con- 

 taining good, well-developed seeds will result from flowers pollinated 

 nine days before they would naturally have received pollen. This was 

 demonstrated with flowers of both seedy and seedless varieties. That 

 the pollen so prematurely applied fecundated the ovules is proved by 



