Page 10 



BETTER FRUIT 



Noz'cvihcr 



variety and date of collecting was 

 placed upon each vial. After a cotton 

 cork and canicl's-hair brush was se- 

 curely fastened in each vial, the pollen 

 was sent to the orchard for use. 



Blossoms were ch(isen for emascula- 

 tion and pollination which grew on the 

 outside of the tree and located from 

 eight to fifteen feet from the ground. 

 They were chosen around the tree to 

 avoid the influence of any advantage as 

 to location that some fruit might pos- 

 sess on the tree. All blossoms were 

 removed, except two to a spur. The 

 thumb and forefinger were used in re- 

 moving the petals which were just 

 about to part. A small pair of forceps 

 gave the most satisfaction in removing 

 all of the stamens from the blossoms. 

 Great care was taken not to injure the 

 sepals or pistils during the process of 

 emasculation. A two-pound paper bag 

 was then placed over the blossoms, tied 

 securely, and labeled with a metal- 

 rimmed tag. The paper bag protected 

 the pistils from being fertilized by 

 other agencies, while the tag contained 

 the record. Effort was made each year 

 to hand-pollinize these blossoms from 

 two to three days from the date of 

 emasculation. It was observed, how- 

 ever, that good results were secured by 

 pollinizing the blossoms the same day 

 of emasculation, provided blossoms 

 chosen were advanced to the point 

 where petals were almost separated. 

 The weather conditions interfered with 

 the emasculation and pollination work 

 considerably each year. The most diffi- 

 cult problem, however, of hand-pollina- 

 tion work is securing sufficient pollen. 

 This is particularly true of the Wine- 

 sap variety. Where weather conditions 

 prevented applying the pollen after the 

 blossoms were emasculated more than 

 three days such blossoms were de- 

 stroyed. ' 



After all danger of pollination from 

 other sources was over, the paper bags 

 were removed. As a rule, the bags 

 were removed each year from five to 

 six days after the pollen was applied. 

 The hand-pollinated apples were then 

 permitted to grow without further 

 attention until harvest time. At this 

 time the hand-pollinated apples were 

 gathered, each with its own label, and 

 taken to the laboratory for detailed 

 study. They were kept in storage not 

 to exceed thirty days. The technical 

 description of each apple was made 

 according to Shaw. The record of the 

 descriptive work of the hand-pollinated 

 specimens appears in Table II. 



Explanation of Data 

 The data presented in this article 

 consists of two tables. Table I con- 

 tains the performance record of the 

 pollination work, while Table II is 

 composed of the description of both 

 self-pollinated and crossed specimens. 



A two-year survey of twenty or- 

 chards in Washington County produced 

 evidence to support the fact that varia- 

 tion is caused more by other factors 

 than the pollen of the male parent. A 

 study of 94 specimens by the writer 

 representing 14 varieties produced at 

 the Idaho Experiment Station in 1915 

 supports the conclusions given in this 



TABLE I.— POLLINATION DATA I-QR THREE YEARS SHOWING NUMBER OF POLLINATIONS 

 MADE, NUMBER OF FRUITS HARVESTED AND PER CENT OF FRUIT SET 



Variety Crossed 



Female Male 



Ben Davis x Ben Da\'is 

 Ben Davis x Cirimes . . . 

 Ben Davis x Jonathan . 

 Ben Davis x Winesap. . 



Grimes x Grimes 



Grimes x Ben Davis . . . 

 Grimes x Jonathan . . . . 

 Grimes x Winesap . . . . 



Jonathan x Jonathan . . 

 Jonathan x Ben Davis . 

 Jonathan x Grimes . . . . 

 Jonathan x Winesap. . . 



Winesap x Winesap . . . 

 Winesap x Ben Davis. . 



WMnesap x Grimes 



Winesap x Jonathan. . . 



Number Pollinations 



1915 



.50 

 3.34 

 434 

 200 



100 

 330 

 281) 

 118 



168 

 790 

 392 

 200 



118 

 250 

 110 

 500 



1916 



230 

 156 

 708 



78 



256 

 220 

 134 

 216 



57 

 621 

 239 

 113 



145 



398 



166 



76 



1917 



192 

 207 

 208 

 217 



86 

 177 

 239 



91 



227 

 221 

 230 

 203 



287 

 108 

 104 

 300 



Ton 



472 



697 



1350 



495 



442 



727 

 659 

 425 



452 



1632 



861 



516 



550 

 756 

 380 

 876 



Number of Fruits 

 Harvested 



1915 







116 



118 



13 



29 

 73 

 75 

 14 



17 

 90 

 34 

 14 



1 

 15 



4 

 35 



1916 



11 

 3 



11 

 1 



2 

 23 



18 

 6 





 11 



1 

 





 

 

 



1917 





 14 

 22 







Tofl 



11 



133 



151 



1 



37 

 124 

 120 



24 



17 



107 



48 



14 



2 

 27 



5 

 36 



Fruit Set, Per Cent 



1915 







.34 



27.10 







29.08 

 22.12 

 26.22 

 11.86 



10.11 



12.10 



8.65 



7.00 



.85 

 6.00 

 3.63 

 7.00 



1916 



4.7 

 1.9 

 1.55 

 1.3 



.78 

 10.4 

 13.4 

 2.77 







1.77 

 .41 

 





 

 

 



1917 







6.76 



10.58 







6.97 

 15.82 

 12.13 



4.39 





 



5.65 

 



.35 



11.11 



.96 



.33 



Tofl 



2.33 



19.08 



11.10 



.20 



8.37 

 17.05 

 18.20 



5.64 



3.76 

 6.63 

 5.57 

 2.71 



.36 

 2.57 

 1.39 

 4.10 



TABLE II.— THREE-YEAR AVERAGE DESCRIPTIVE DATA OF HAND-POLLINATED APPLES 



bulletin. The commercial and prac- 

 tical application of the facts obtained 

 by this study justify apple growers in 

 planting varieties, primarily for the 

 benefit of cross-pollination, which will 

 cause the normal development of the 

 apple. Varieties should be planted to- 

 gether which have the greatest mutual 

 affinity, in order to secure the highest 

 per cent of cross-pollinated specimens, 

 but no benefit is derived on size, color, 

 shape and quality of the apple of the 

 female parent from foreign pollen. 

 Pollination data for three years show- 

 ing the varieties crossed, number of 

 pollinations made, number of fruits 

 harvested and the per cent of fruit set 

 is given in Table I. 



In 1915 there were made 4380 polli- 

 nations with 568 fruits harvested for 

 all varieties. In 1916 3813 pollinations 

 were made, giving only 76 fruits har- 

 vested for all varieties. For 1917 

 3097 pollinations were made, producing 

 129 apples. For the three years 11,290 

 pollinations were made which produced 

 773 apples of all varieties. 



The most successful year for pollina- 

 tion work was 1915. During that year, 

 when Grimes was used as a female, the 

 highest per cent of fruit was set. Self- 

 pollinated Grimes also produced the 

 best set. As a female, Ben Davis, Jon- 

 athan and Winesap were second, third 

 and fourth, respectively, for the per 

 cent of fruit set each year. Also for 

 the three-year average. Poorest results 

 were secured in 1916. The total per 

 cent of fruit set for the three years for 

 Grimes as a female, using the other 

 three varieties as male, was 49.26. Ben 



Davis, as a female, produced 32.71 per 

 cent of fruit; Jonathan, as a female, 

 produced 18.67 per cent of fruit, while 

 the Winesap, as a female, produced 

 9.42 per cent. The Winesap, as a female, 

 gave consistently the smallest number 

 of fruits and was the most difficult vari- 

 ety from which to secure pollen or 

 work with. The Ben Davis, as a female, 

 crossed with Grimes, gave a total of 

 19.08 per cent of fruit set, placing this 

 cross first and indicating the most sat- 

 isfactory mutual affinity of the four 

 varieties used. The Grimes and Jon- 

 athan, as a male, produced 18.20 per 

 cent of fruit set. Grimes and Ben 

 Davis, as a male, gave a total of 17.05 

 per cent of fruit, which ranks this com- 

 bination as third. It will be noted from 

 Table I that some crosses failed to pro- 

 duce fruit during certain years. This 

 is particularly true of 1916. Climatic 

 conditions were extremely unfavorable 

 during this year and not much more 

 favorable during 1917. The factors 

 which cause failure in pollination work 

 need not be discussed in connection 

 with this study, but it is important to 

 note that a small number of specimens, 

 particularly self-pollinated specimens, 

 were secured. However, each year all 

 hand-pollinated specimens possessed 

 the characters of the female parent in 

 size, color, shape and quality, regard- 

 less of the number of specimens se- 

 cured. Perfect pollination is essential 

 to normal development of the apple. 



Table II is composed of the average 

 descriptive data of hand-pollinated 

 apples, given as collected for three 

 years. The figures are the average for 



