BRIEFER ARTICLES 



A CORN-POLLINATOR 



(with one figure) 



In some corn-breeding experiments conducted during the summer 

 of 1918 at Col. George Fabyan's Riverbank Research Laboratories, 

 Geneva, lUinois, the writer employed a simple pollination apparatus 

 which has proved very satisfactory. An ordinary thistle tube is filed 

 off 3-4 inches from the bulb and given a bend of 90° (fig. 1, B). The 



Fig. I. — Corn-pollinator: description in text 



bulb is fitted with a one-hole rubber stopper, through which is passed a 

 glass tube with two bends (fig. i, .4). Silks and tassels are covered, as is 

 customary, with manila bags of the ordinary type (single acute angle 

 at closed end). The stopper is removed from the pollinator and into 

 the bulb is shaken an appropriate amount of pollen from the tassel-bag. 

 A small notch is then cut in the cteed end of the silks-bag. Through 

 this aperture the thistle-tube end of the pollinator is immediately 

 inserted; the operator blows at the other end of the apparatus; and a 

 dense cloud of pollen is discharged over the silks. The end of the silks- 

 bag is then folded over and held secure with a wire clip (see the series 

 in fig. i). Thus pollination can readily be repeated, although this is 

 quite unnecessary if the original pollination was made at the time of 

 good pollen and receptive silks. Repetition may be desired, however, 



63] [Botanical Gazette, vol. 68 



