A GOOD CLUSTER OF SANMONTA 



Rotundifolia grapes are normal^ pollinated by insects, the pollen 

 being too heavy and sticky to be carried by the wind. 

 Whether the crop is good depends to a large extent on whether 

 enough insects have been working in the vineyard. In this 

 case a bunch of flowers was bagged, and a bee (family 

 Andrenidae) put in the bag. The efficiency of his work is 

 evident. Photograph natural size. (Fig. 5.) 



flower buds have opened and scattered 

 their pollen. Material that is collected 

 on the preceding day is generally not 

 matured enough to go through the 

 regular process of liberating the pollen 

 and difficulty may be experienced in its 

 extraction. Flower clusters with ma- 

 ture buds, and mainly such as will 

 bloom during the same day, are selected 

 and gathered in quantities large enough 

 to insure a sufficient amount of pollen. 

 This material is thoroughly rinsed with 

 clean water to remove or destroy all 

 adhering foreign pollen, hastily dried by 

 removing the excess water either by 

 swinging the material sharply in the air 

 or with the aid of blotting paper, and 

 immediately placed in suitably labeled 

 paper trays. These trays are lightly 



covered with a piece of clean paper, 

 placed in a dry but airy room, and the 

 buds are allowed to open up naturalh', 

 which they will do within a compara- 

 tively short time. By noon all of the 

 mature buds will have opened but the 

 contents of the trays are not removed 

 imtil the following day when the plant 

 material will be sufficiently dry so that 

 the pollen can be extracted. 



The process of separating the pollen 

 from the dried flowers is a very simple 

 operation. All that is required is (1) 

 a glass test-tube into which a conven- 

 iently small amount of the dried 

 material is placed and shaken. B\' 

 jarring or gently tapping the tube the 

 fine dry pollen" will sift down to the 

 bottom from whence it can be trans- 



255 



