EXPERIMENTS WITH TOMATO BLOSSOMS. 33 



Experiment SS. — This experiment is an exact repetition of experiment 24, except 

 that it was performed on the Lorillard variety. 

 Results of the experiment: N<> fruits. 



While the work with tomato blossoms indicates no injurious effects 

 from the growth of pollen tubes down the immature pistils, it proves 



the fallacy of the commonly accepted opinion that when pollen is 

 placed on young stigmas it will remain there and fertilize the flower 

 when the pistils finally become receptive. It is also shown that 

 tomato blossoms will sometimes, though seldom, set fruit without pol- 

 lination, and the number of fine, large, seedless, and almost seedless 

 tomatoes that grew on the vines under glass without any attention 

 having been paid to the pollination of the flowers shows that the 

 absence or scarcity of pollen on the stigmas will sometimes result in 

 the production of better, firmer, and less seedy tomatoes than those 

 which result from a natural pollination. An examination of tomato 

 flowers growing out of doors showed that the stigmas of the fully 

 opened flowers were completely covered with pollen, and tomatoes on 

 the same vines consequently were found to contain the usual large num- 

 ber of seeds. One of these of average size — 3 inches in diameter and 

 2£ inches thick — and not unusually seedy, contained 308 seeds; while 

 some of the same variety and of the same size that were grown under 

 glass contain no seeds, and others but a dozen or two. The tine toma- 

 toes above mentioned, some of which contained no seeds and the others 

 but few. grew on large thrifty vines which bore but a few fruits each, 

 owing to the failure of their flowers to receive pollen. Had these vines 

 borne at the time a crop of tomatoes containing the normal number of 

 seeds it is likely that the ones without seeds, as well as those with but 

 few seeds, would not have reached the size they did. As it was, how- 

 ever, the tomatoes without seeds reached a diameter of 2£ and 3 inches 

 and were firm and of excellent quality. If some of the fruits on a 

 vine have set as a result of a liberal pollination, while others have set 

 as a result of a slight pollination, or even without pollination, it is 

 natural to suppose that the nourishment of the vine would go largely 

 to the fruits containing an abundance of seeds, while seedless ones 

 would be dwarfed. That such is the case has been shown by the experi- 

 ments of Alunson" and Bailey''. The same effect is shown by PI. IV, 

 tig. 16, which is a photograph of a cluster of Wilmot Hamburg grapes 

 grown under glass. The small berries are ripe and have the same 

 color and flavor as the large ones, but are entirely seedless and doubt- 

 less set without pollination. The large berries contain several seeds 

 each and likeby resulted from blossoms that were naturally pollinated, 

 perhaps by insects that found their way into the hothouse. 



When there is competition on the same plant between seedless and 

 seeded fruits the latter receive the most nourishment and become the 



a Ann. Rep. Maine Exp. Station, 1892, p. 50. 

 ''Rep. Cornell Univ. Exp. Station, 1891, p. 53. 



1810— No. 22—02 3 



