February 3, 1906 



HORTICULTURE 



l'J9 



Pollination 



To explain the meaning of this word so that it. may 

 be intelligible to some, it may be necessary to remark 

 that pollen is the fine powder which falls from flowers 

 when they have arrived at a certain stage of maturity 

 and are shaken by the wind, or it may be carried by 

 insects from one flower to another. 



Pollen is contained in a little sack called the anther. 

 Tn the naked eye it appears only as a mere powder, but 

 under the microscope it is found to consist of grains 

 of uniform size and shape, in the same plant, but dif- 

 ferent in all the different species. Their color is usually 

 yellow or brown, but in the epilobium and polemonium 

 it is blue, and in the mullien red. One curious fact is 

 worth recording, as showing how wonderfully nature, 

 or more properly speaking the Creator, has provided 

 against possible dangers. Thus moisture is peculiarly 

 noxious to pollen because it hursts the tiny grains before 

 they can perform their office, which I will notice further 

 on, and for this reason so many flowers drop or close 

 their petals when moisture prevails. The drooping of 

 the snowdrop is a familiar example, and the anagallis 

 or pimpernel is called the poor man's weather glass, 

 because it closes its petals at the approach of rain. 



The greatest observer of Nature, Linnams, remarked 

 that flowers lose this state of delicate sensibility after 

 pollen is gone. This pollen must be brought into imme- 

 diate contact with the pistil which is the female organ 

 of the plant, bearing the ovules, which when acted upon 

 by the pollen become fruit and seed. As soon as the 

 pollen unites with the ovules, fecundation, or the gen- 

 erative excitement of the rudimental principles of the 

 seeds of plants and of the embryo of animals commences. 

 This is the starting point in the life of the individual. 

 In plants, the pollen must be brought into contact and 

 union with the ovules before seed can be produced, and 

 this is called pollination. 



Self-pollination is when the pollen is conveyed to the 

 pistils of the same flower, to pistils of other flowers on 

 the same plant, or to pistils of other plants of the same 

 variety which have been propagated by grafts, cuttings, 

 &c. Cross pollination means the conveying of one flower 

 to the pistils of flowers of plants of a different variety ; 

 it also means the transfer of pollen to the pistil of an- 

 other plant of the same variety. 



Pollination may be effected by natural agencies, as 

 wind, insects, or birds, or by scientific, or artificial 

 processes. It is by the latter that new and improved 

 varieties are usually obtained with wonderful accuracies 

 and success. 



Some plants are self fertile, that is to say, have per- 

 fect male and female organs in the same flower, and 

 these are capable of self-fecundation; others, called pis- 

 tillate plants, are those which have only the pistils or 

 female organs, and these remain infertile unless oper- 

 ated upon by the pollen of other plants. 



Strawberries have many varieties which have the pis- 

 tils only, and these will not produce fruit satisfactorily, 



if at all. unless acted upon by the male pollen. In plant- 

 ing a strawberry bed care should be taken that the va- 

 rieties used should not all be pistillate. 



By experiments it has been established that sterility 

 exists in a great variety of fruits, and one reason for 

 their not producing is that they were not pollinated; 

 and another fact exemplified is that the fruit produced 

 by self-pollinated flowers is not so perfect as when cross- 

 pollinated by pollen from another fruit, even of the 

 same variety. 



There is no more fascinating nor profitable part of 

 horticulture than artificial cross pollination, and none 

 so likely to contribute to the comfort and welfare of . 

 mankind, and even to the brute creation; he who suc- 

 ceeds in producing an improved grain or fruit is a bene- 

 factor, not only to his fellow man, but to all the animals 

 that feed on the results of his labor and skill. 



Before horticulture was a scientific pursuit this use 

 of pollen was not taken much notice of; seedlings were 

 raised without any reference to its effect, and if one 

 variety proved of superior excellence it was by mere 

 chance, hut now the enterprising, enthusiastic and well 

 informed horticulturist goes to work to improve va- 

 rieties of fruit and grain, or to make changes in the 

 habit of growth, form, and color of flowers by a system 

 of artificial cross-pollination and selection with the most 

 certain and beneficial results, not only to his own ad- 

 vantage, but to that of the whole community. 



More About Two Troublesome 

 Insects 



In addition to the information about the two species 

 of red spider given in a recent issue of Horticulture 

 I may now add the following: Hydrocyanic gas used 

 at the rate of 1 oz. cyanide of potassium to each 1000 

 cubic feet, failed to kill either variety of the spiders. 

 It did kill the white fly, green fly, scales, some mealy- 

 bugs, saw bugs, snails and some angleworms, but all 

 kinds of spiders and ants are as lively today as they have 

 ever been. Some of the houses were dosed with the gas 

 two nights in succession, but not a single spider was 

 killed. 



The damage done to plants by the gas was slight. 

 Out of nearly six hundred plants of phalamopsis only 

 about a dozen were damaged. Ccelogyne cristata suffered 

 most and Oncidium concolor had nearly all its leaves 

 disfigured. The damage in most cases was not notice- 

 able until from three to ten days after the gas had been 

 applied. 



Naugatuck, < 'onn. 



