EXPERIMENTS WITH TOMATO BLOSSOMS. 27 



Experiment 1.— March 1,2 p. m. Ten young flowers of Lorillard variety wore 

 decapitated and pollinated at once with pollen from Atlantic Prize. Only young 

 buds w ith a total length of one-half inch and with their Bepal lobes still touching at 

 their apexes were chosen. (PI. IV. fig. LO, shows the size and appearance of the 

 flower buds chosen for this and all following experiments excepl experiment 5.) 

 The sepal lulu- of these flowers were at this time one-eighth of an inch longer than 

 the petals, Btamens, and pistils, which were all of about equal length. In unmolested 

 flowers similar to these it was ohserved that from this age on the pistil- gre* more 

 rapidly than the other parts, and usually protruded one-sixteenth to one-eighth of 

 an inch beyond the mature stamens (PI. [V. fig. 8). 



March L9. A tew of these flowers were te-day examined, and it was found that 

 some bad fallen from tin- plants, while others were ready to tall at a touch. 



April .".. These 10 flowers were all found loose at the base of the stem, and the 

 flowers black, dried, and shriveled. 



Results of the experiment: No fruits set. 



Experiment 2.— March 1,2.30 p. m. This experiment is in every particular an 

 exact repetition of experiment 1, and the 10 flowers examined March L9 and April :; 

 showed results exactly the >ame as those of experiment 1. 



Experiments. — (Compare with experiment 4 and contrast with 1 and 2. .March 

 I, 3p.m. These lOflowerson the same plants as flowers of experiments l and 2 

 were decapitated and then bagged to be pollinated with Atlantic Prize pollen when 

 the pistils have become mature, a- shewn by other blossoms of the same age to-day, 

 labeled to determine the rapidity of growth of unmolested flowers on these vine-. 



March 7. On this date the blossoms labeled to indicate the rapidity of growth 

 showed reflex petals and receptive stigmas. An examination of the flowers of 

 experiment 3 showed the decapitated sepals to he reflexed and thestagmas receptive 

 as near as could be determined with a hand lens. These 10 flowers were accord- 

 ingly pollinated with fresh pollen of Atlantic Prize. 



April 3. These 10 flowers were to-day examined and 9 large green tomatoes found 

 developing. One blossom had fallen without setting fruit, hut 2 of the 9 large 

 tomatoes were on this same stem, which might possibly he the cause of the falling 

 of the other flower, as 2 t< imatoes were enough for so small a stem to support. These 

 fruits now range from 1 to 3 inches in diameter. 



Results of the experiment: June 8. Nine large ripe tomatoes. 



Experiment 4— (Compare with experiment 3 and contrast with 1 and 2.) March 

 1, 4 p. m. This experiment is an exact repetition of experiment 3. 



March 7. These 10 blossoms treated similarly to those of experiment 3. 



April 3. Nine large green tomatoes found; 1 flower had fallen without setting 



fruit. 



Results of the experiment: June 8. Nine large ripe tomatoes. 



Experiment 5.— March 1. In order to ascertain the percentage of blossoms which 

 would set fruit if pollinated in the manner usually employed in growing tomatoes 

 under glass for commercial purposes, 10 fully opened blossoms were thus pollinated 

 and labeled, but left unbagged. These 10 flowers were of the Lorillard variety and 

 were pollinated in a hasty manner with pollen of Atlantic Prize by simply touching 

 the protruding pistils with a watch glass into which pollen had been shaken from 

 flowers of the latter variety. 



April 3. These 10 flowers were examined and 8 large green tomatoes found develop- 

 ing, 1 flower having fallen without setting fruit, and another in the same fruit cluster 

 was still attached and had a strong stem and large green calyx, but the ovary was 

 exceedingly small and had not begun to develop. The last 2 mentioned are in the 

 same fruit cluster with 2 of the 8 large green tomatoes, and this fact may be an 

 explanation of their nondevelopment, since 2 large tomatoes are as many as so small 

 a stem can well support. 



Results of the experiment: Eight large well-formed tomatoes. 



