WINTER MEETING. 



245 



In our fruits generally both pistil and stamens are present in the 

 same flower, thongh there are exceptions. Under such circumstances 

 one's first thought, perhaps, would be that there could be no difficulty 

 in securing thorough pollination. 



But we have other principles to reckon with. Nature abhors in- 

 breeding, and resorts to various devices to prevent it, the most famil- 

 iar one being the "ripening" of the two parts of the flower at differ- 

 ent times, and pollen from the same flower in most cases has a much 

 less potent influence on the pistil, if indeed it has any at all. 



But you may ask: Are not our fruits exceptions in this matter? 

 Let facts answer : 



Prof. A. Cook carefully experimented with the bloom of the apple, 

 crab apple, pear, cherry, strawberry, raspberry and clover. In some 

 cases the experiment was duplicated or triplicated. In each particu- 

 lar case an equal number of blossoms were selected from adjacent 

 branches. One lot was marked with a tag, the other surrounded by 

 cheese-cloth. I cannot enter into details, but these are the results: 



Ulooms. 



Covened 

 fruits. 



Apple 



Apple 



Orati apple 



Apple 



Pear 



Cherry 



Strawberries.... 

 Strawberries.... 

 Strawberries.... 



Raspberries 



Clover (red) 



Clover (white) . 



40 



75 



200 



160 



140 



300 



60 



212 



123 



184 



h'dSlO 



h'ds 10 



9 



9 



80 



20 



93 



Uncov'rd 



fruits. 



15 



3 



3 



9 



7 



119 



27 



104 



36 



160 



191 



541 



Again, in 1894, since his removal to California, Prof. Cook made 

 similar experiments with plums, cherries and pears. Two plum trees, 

 one cherry and two pear trees were made use of in the experiment. 

 On each tree three lots of blossoms were selected instead of two (as 

 ia the other case), the number of blossoms varying in each tree from 

 32 upward, the lots on any one tree of cource having an equal number. 

 One lot on each tree was left uncovered, the second lot was covered, 

 but with bees introduced under the covering, and the third lot was 

 covered, excluding all bees. All proper precautions were taken to se- 

 •care reliable results. The result was that there was not a single fruit 



