THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



long pistil of another, or one bringing pollen from the short stamen of 

 one flower can reach the short pistil of another; and then again there are 

 some plants with perfect flowers where the stamen and pistil do not ma- 

 ture at the same time, so that when the pollen of the stamen is ready the 

 pistil is not prepared to receive it, or when the pistil is ready to receive 

 it the pollen of the stamen has either lost is vitality or is not yet matured. 

 This makes it necessary that the pollen from some other plant maturing 

 when the pistil is properly developed should be brought to it by the agency 

 of wind or of insect. 



All this information is of practical utility in obtaining ideal results in 

 horticultural operations. The growth of vegetables under glass in winter 

 where the wind cannot convey pollen from one flower to another and 

 where there are few, if any, insects to do the work, makes hand polleniza- 

 tion necessary. This is particularly the case with cucumbers, where the 

 flowers are unisexual — it is necessary to convey the pollen from the 

 stamen of one flower to the pistil of another by hand, using a camel's-hair 

 brush for the purpose. In tomatoes, where the flowers are bisexual, 

 fertilization does not act with freedom because the stamens are stuck 

 together by a gummy substance, which in the open air loses its tenacity 

 and allows the stamens to separate so that their pollen can be loosened. 

 When the sun is shining brightly, if the stamens of a tomato flower in a 

 greenhouse are slightly opened with a pin point they will fly apart and 

 scatter the pollen in every direction, but without such aid a very large 

 proportion of them do not separate and consequently the pistil is not 

 fertilized. An example of this same matter, in outdoor cultivation, is 

 found in some varieties of grapes. The Brighton, a grape of excellent 

 quality, does not develop its pollen at the same time that the pistils are 

 matured, and consequently, if left to itself, a very imperfect fructification 

 takes place. When the vine is grown near other grapes whose pollen 

 matures at the proper time, the Brighton pistil is fructified by the pollen 

 blown by the wind or carried by insects. In my own vineyard I have a 

 row of Brighton vines to the east of rows of Delaware and Campbell's 

 Early. The prevailing summer wind is from the southwest. When there 

 are such winds during the days of Brighton blooming, good bunches of 

 grapes are formed, but when for two or three days at that time there 

 happens to be easterly wind, imperfect fructification takes place and very 

 ragged clusters result. Similar facts are found in growing Muscat of 

 Alexandria under glass, where it is necessary to disperse the pollen by 

 gentle blows upon the vine or ragged clusters will be obtained. 

 • This matter of cross-fertilization introduces the great subject of horti- 

 cultural development by means of hybridization where crosses of diff^erent 

 species are made. It makes possible an almost endless variety of pro- 

 duction and is a most promising field of horticultural development. Those 

 who attended the plant-breeding conference held by The Horticultural 

 Society of New York a few years ago, and which was attended by prom- 

 inent scientists of European countries and the West Indies, as well as of all 



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