HEALTH AND DISEASE 365 



Pollen grains vary enough in size, shape and general conformation, so 

 that — in a general way — the plants they come from may be identified by 

 inspection of the granules under the microscope of the pollen specialist. 



Pollen is a spore and can live for a long time, and under adverse cir- 

 cumstances. A pollen grain is said to be "alive" only so long as it is capable 

 of fertilizing an egg cell. It may live from a few hours to several months. 

 However, alive or dead, botanically, dry hay fever pollens retain their 

 power to produce allergic responses for years. Some have been potent for 

 twenty years. 



Some pollens have wings — stationary wings like an air glider. Pine pollen 

 has them and is carried many miles on them. They are microscopic wings 

 and not to be confused with winged seeds. Grass pollens are smooth- 

 walled and spherical and may have indentations on the surface. They look 

 like a golf ball under the microscope, or like a smooth, round ball of clay 

 into which a child has pressed his fingers. 



Pollens of the ragweed tribe, Ambrosiaceae in part, include ragweeds, 

 false ragweeds, marsh elder, sunflower, aster, daisy and goldenrod. All have 

 rough and spiny surfaces under the microscope, looking like cockleburs. 



Ragweeds shed their pollen best on days when the sun shines. Rainfall 

 washes the pollen out of the air. You have probably noticed that hay fever 

 victims always welcome damp, cloudy days. A heavy wind, of course, 

 stirs more pollen into the air and carries it farther. A wind storm is often 

 followed by an "epidemic" of hay fever. 



Weed crops respond to good growing weather just as noticeably as do 

 cultivated crops. The amount of sun and rain during the growing season 

 may determine whether we have an abundant ragweed pollen crop. 



Nature, in her distribution plan, adjusts herself to many situations. In 

 the North where the warm season is shorter she hurries to scatter her pollen 

 earlier and continues later in order to pass around enough to reach and 

 satisfy her waiting clients. In the South, where spring comes earlier, one 

 would think the pollen season would be advanced by just that much. But 

 here pollination starts late and lasts but a short time. 



Among doctors, allergy has become as much a specialty as is ear, nose 

 and throat work. A large part of the time of the allergist of today is spent 

 in running down the substance that causes that explosive response in his 

 patient. Everything from the pillow you sleep on, the t^^ in your pancake, 

 to the bears in the zoo, may have to be investigated before your doctor can 

 attempt to protect you from future attacks. The scratch tests he gives you 

 stem from the same idea that Dr. Blackley gave the world through his 

 personal martyrdom. 



Ragweed can be ousted by cutting the plant. First, just before the flowers 

 form, and, again, before the flowers develop on the low-growing branches 

 that sprout out again after the first cutting. Watch the weed pile if you 

 cut ragweeds. If you do not whack the tops oflF before flower buds form, 



