684 



EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



7 GEORGE V, A. 1917 



A number of the varieties employed in the self-fertility tests were also crossed 

 with the pollen of other varieties to test and check the comparative accuracy of the 

 work as far as possible. The following- table gives a summary of these results: — 



CJROSS FERTILITY TESTS- ' 



Variety. 



Eve (P. haccata hybrid) . . 

 Eve (P. haccata hybrid) . . 

 Robin (P. baccata hybrid) 



Haas 



Milwaukee 



Milwaukee 



Milwaukee 



Wealthy 



Wealthy 



Duchess of Oldenburg . 



u 



Scott Winter 



Scott Winter 



Hibernal 



Hibernal 



Charlamoff 



Plodovitka 



Rochelle 



Yellow Transparent 



n 



Antonovka 



Number of 

 Blossoms. 



40 



2.3 



44 



102 



1.39 



110 



55 



62 



179 



246 



190 

 52 

 19 



148 



114 



115 

 89 

 71 

 235 

 161 

 197 



Pollen Parent. 



Charlamoff 



Wealthy 



Wealthy 



Wealthy 



Haas 



Yellow Transparent.. . 

 Duchess of Oldenburg 



Mcintosh 



Duchess of Oldenburg 

 Hibernal 



Haas 



Haas 



Mcintosh Red 



Antonovka 



Charlamoff 



Yellow Transparent.. 



Charlamoff 



Rome Beauty 



Antonovka 



Charlamoff 



Yellow Transparent.. . 



Pollen. 



Fresh . 

 Dry.. 

 Fresh . 

 Dry.. 



Dry and 

 poor... . 

 Dry 



Dry and 

 poor. . . . 



Dry and 

 poor. . . . 



Dry 



1st Count. 



15 

 25 

 13 

 23 

 24 

 41 



20-3 

 46-3 

 30-77 

 47-3 







18-5 

 3-4 



16-3 

 4-2 



21-9 



31-9 



Fruit 

 harvested. 



4 



20 

 76 

 10 

 18 







3 



4 

 10 



7 

 19 

 12 



6 











6-2 



2-6 



6-5 



4 



2-4 



4-5 



The percentage of fruit set was quite low, owing to a number of causes. The 

 help available for this work was not as experienced as it might have been, but from 

 check results the records may be taken as substantially correct, though there may be 

 an instance or two where errors have crept in. The result of the whole work 

 shows that apple varieties in general are self-sterile under most conditions, that is, the 

 results obtained at the Central Experimental Farm are in accord with the results pre- 

 viously obtained at several experiment stations and go to prove the necessity of plant- 

 ing several varieties of apples in an orchard, to act as suitable pollenizers for each 

 other. 



Another factor that became apparent in this work was that a large number of the 

 flowers, which originally appeared to have been fertilized and to have set fruit, dropped 

 oflP at later periods during the season. 



The total yield in the orchards was little more than a half crop and conditions 

 for pollination by hand were not at all satisfactory. Nevertheless, despite these draw- 

 backs, the results obtained, as shown in the two previous tables, are markedly different. 



PEARS. 



The work with pears during the past year has consisted in making further crosses 

 between the varieties of Eussian origin, now growing in the orchards at the Central 

 Experimental Farm, and commercial varieties of pears from the more southerly dis- 

 tricts. The Russian varieties are hardy and blight-resistant, but otherwise much 

 inferior to the average commercial pear. Pear growiiig in this country is so severely 

 handicapped by a Pear Blight that the object of this work is to secure, if possible, new 

 varieties as resistant to Pear Blight, as are those of Russian origin, and possessing at 



Ottaw.\. 



