188 



NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



one, three, five, or many. Around these pistils is either one, two, or 

 many circles of stamens, the male organs. On the end of the stamen 

 we have the anther or pollen bag. This contains the pollen grains, 

 which are the male fertilizing element. Some of the flowers of fruits are 

 shown in figure 1.. 



sTiqmft/ 

 stamens 



Stfti-wbcir 



--|>ist»L. 



•I 



Curra.nt 



-stumeas 



J/LC^.^U-Txl 



,' 5* stigmas 



stuTiiensi. 



^hKe. 



Fig. 1. Showing some common fruit flowers in cross-section. 



In order to produce seed or fruit the pollen grains must fall onto the 

 sticky stigma, and there it must stay and grow down to fertilize the 

 ovum of the seed. 



Now as to hand crossing. The first thing to do is to prevent the 

 flower to be crossed from being fertilized by its own pollen, or else we 

 would get a self-fertilized seed, and so crossing would not have any 

 effect on the results. To accomplish this the flower bud is emasculated 

 a day or two before it would naturally open, this simply means to re- 

 move the stamens from the flowerbud, special care being taken not to 

 break open the anthers lest some pollen falls onto the stigma. Often to 



