PROCEEDINGS OF THE WINTER MEETING. 41 



Mr. Brassington : Do you advise the intermixture of different varieties 

 of tree in the orchard? 



Prof. Slayton : 1 certainly do. We have found recently that very few 

 blossoms are fertilized from the other organs in the same blossom. But 

 when you think of the size of the grain of the pollen, the millionth part 

 of an inch, and what possibility it has of reaching the adjoining flowers, 

 it is remarkable. For instance, among the grapes, some one might ask 

 how far apart the different varieties of grape should be planted, in order 

 that the}' may be fertilized. Suppose they are eight feet apart. A 

 particle of this pollen must pass over those eight feet. How many grains 

 of pollen are there in a single blossom? Here is a circle sixteen feet in 

 diameter. How many grains of pollen will it take to completely cover 

 that circle so that a single one of those grains will strike that flower. 

 The chances for the wind to carrj' it are about one in a million. Who, 

 then, or what, does it? Probably the insects in ninetj^-nine cases out of 

 a hundred, with grapes planted that distance apart. I suppose no one 

 intended to say that the blossoms should be planted in juxtaposition. 

 We must depend upon the insects. While we were speaking this fore- 

 noon, my mind ran back to our apple and other crops. What is the mat- 

 ter with our insects? W^e have been trying for some years i)ast to kill 

 all the insects by spraying our trees with various mixtures and poisons, 

 and our apples have failed, as well as many of the other fruits. 



^Ir. Morrill: 1 don't think there is any spraying done when fruit is 

 in blossom, is there, and the blossom-working insects are the only ones 

 that do this business. Does any one spray in a manner to kill this class 

 of insects? 



Mr. Kork: Ever}- species of plant has a kind of abhorrence of self- 

 fertilization, so it is best to plajit varieties near each other, even though 

 they are pollen-bearing varieties. I think the wind can do a good deal. 

 Mr. Husted, the originator of Michigan Early, and I suppose of Triumph, 

 the new freestone peach, told me that he brought it to pass by inter- 

 fertilization. He said he was careful to cover the limbs with thiii cloths, 

 and then, by inter-fertilization of the sort he wanted, he secured Early 

 Michigan, and in Georgia he secured Triumph. 



Mr. Keid: As regards alternating varieties, I recall hearing Prof. 

 Bailey describe the orchards of Mr. Willard and Mr. Hammond at 

 Geneva, N. Y. He said that there was no order to them whatsoever; 

 that the varieties were all mixed up; scarcely a row of a variety; pears 

 and plums and apples are all mixed, all over the grounds; and he said 

 that, whereas many other orchards were not bearing at all well, this one 

 was a mass of fruitfulness. It does not seem, in the light of such evi- 

 dence as this, that there can be any doubt as to the wisdom of planting 

 varieties in alternate rows, or even in closer proximity. Our president 

 has done a little work of this kind, and I know of no better way to get 

 light on it than to have him relate how he created the Osage muskmelon. 



Mr, Morrill: I don't know as that would be of so much importance. 

 I will say a little in this line, and then, if you want me to say anything 

 about that, I will. It is a well-established fact, that nature abhors 

 inbreeding. Man, by the conditions under which he places his subject 

 plants or animals, may enforce it, and the product will unquestionably 

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