THE SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 45'J 



distinct plant. We liave seen that a cross of different llower.s on tlic same 

 plant does but little good. One insect will often visit an astonisliingly large 

 number of ilowers in a small space of time, 'riiey cannot tell whetlior a ilower 

 contains honey or not till tliey try it. In this way any ilowcr is frequently 

 visited by many insects in turn, some of wliich will very likely bring pollen 

 from other plants. A single plant of a species rarely grows alone. There are 

 others near by. ]^ificcious plants * must be crossed. When monrccious f there 

 is a good chance for a cross, especially where the anthers ripen before the pistils 

 are ready for the pollen, or the reverse. The expansion of only one or a few 

 ilowers at a time on a plant favors a cross of two distinct j^lants. Dimorphous 

 is a term a})plied to plants wdiicli have stamens and pistils of two different 

 lengths. For example, the flowers of Primula on one jilant will have all the 

 pistils running to tlic top of the tube of the corolla, while the stamens will be 

 below ; yet on another plant the stamens may be near the top of the tube while 

 the jiistil is below. This is the case with Bouvardia, lloustonia, and manv 

 others. They are dimorphous. Tiie long styles on one plant are more certain 

 to be fertilized by the tall stamens, and when so crossed produce seeds best ; 

 Avhile the short stamens or those low down are fitted to cross the short styles. 



He planted a white kohl-rabi, a purple kohl-rabi, a Portsmouth brocoli, a 

 Brussels sprout, and a sugar-loaf cabbage (varieties of one species) near together 

 and left them uncovered. A majority of seedlings from these seeds in all five 

 beds were mongrelized in the most complicated manner. Some other experi- 

 ments were made with other plants giving similar results, as onions and 

 niimulus. 



DIFFERENCE IN POLLEN. 



In numerous cases he placed pollen on the stigma from anthers of the same 

 plant, and in twenty-four hours added pollen of another variety. In every 

 instance some or all tlie pistils bore seeds which showed they were crossed by 

 the last application of pollen. If one flower is fertilized with pollen which 

 ]s more efficient than that applied to tiic other fl.owers on the same peduncle, 

 the latter often drop off. This was shown by experiments of Herbert and 

 others. The amount of pollen produced by plants which are dependent upon 

 the wind to fertilize them is very large. Pollen in some cases drifts for 

 hundreds of miles and rises to the height of 500 to ],000 feet. This gives a 

 great opportunity for many of our evergreens and other trees and plants to be 

 crossed by distant plants. 



I5EES AS SPECIALISTS. 



Cliapter eleven is devoted to the habits of insects in relation to the fertiliza- 

 tion of flowers. Prom a previous paper read at the Michigan Bee-keeper's 

 Convention the writer of this review remarked, that "Individual bees have 

 been observed to behave differently about flowers, in some respects, from a ma- 

 jority of bees. Some are eccentric. They have their peculiarities. Xageli 

 j3ut artificial flowers to branches, and used essential oil on some, and on others 

 he used no oil. The odor attracted them to the flowers containing it. Aris- 

 totle, 2,000 years ago saw that hive bees worked continuously on flowers of the 

 same species. They even do so when tlie flowers are not all colored alike, as in 



♦Having male and female flowers on different plant?. 



t Having male and female flowers on same jilant, but the sexual organs not in the same flower, 

 as in Indian corn 



