276 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE. 



ensure male and female bloom maturing at the same time it is 

 neoessary that male buds in various stages of development be 

 selected and treated as above described. 



The imperative necessity of artificially fertilising cucumbers, 

 &c., or fruits that are grown under glass or indoor gardens, has 

 long been recognised. In colder latitudes, where early cucumbers, 

 melons, &c., are at a premium, the first morning duty of the man 

 in charge is, as soon as the sun is sufficiently high, to go the rounds 

 of his forcing-pits to overhaul the vines therein, note every female 

 blossom, and taking a male flower in his hand, dust the polleii 

 from it to the stigma of the receptive bloom. Every stigma so 

 treated is morally certain to produce a fruit. But every one 

 neglected is certain to be a failure as far as the production of a 

 fruit is concerned. 



What has been said in relation to pumpkin-fertilisation holds 

 good with eveiy other flower that is fertilised by insect agency, 

 only the smaller the flower the greater care must be exercised, 

 and the more patience necessary to ensure successful results. One 

 fact must always be remembered — every seed requires a grain of 

 pollen to ensure a plant from the seed sown ; therefore be not par- 

 simonious in the application of pollen, and also remember "enough 

 is as good as a feast." The cai-e necessary is to apply the brush 

 with its pollen to the receptive organ with as soft and gentle touch 

 as possible. 



When hybridisation or cross-fertilisation is required, the same 

 methods must be followed as in the case of pollenising from one 

 variety to that of the same ; only whatever species or varieties it is 

 proposed to cross for the reproduction of something new, the selection 

 of the sexes, i.e., the stameniferous and pistiliferous, must be free 

 from disease, vegetable blights, or parasites of every kind. The pollen 

 from the anther must be removed from the one species or variety to 

 the stigmatic portion of the one it is desired to hybridise, and o'lce, 

 versa. Nevertheless the results form these crossings are often more 

 successful than where this interchange is not used. The consti- 

 tution in the sexes of two plants greatly difter ; the pollen-bearing 

 essential organs in one plant being far more vigorous than in that 

 of another; and the same differences are met with in the receptive 

 organs of distinct species or varieties. 



If hermaphrodite or bisexual blooms are to receive cross- 

 pollenisation, they too must be guarded from the action of insects 

 The operation is a very delicate one. The flower-buds selected 

 from which to transfer the pollen must be carefully watched, and 



