STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 127 



will be ready, and then, by jarring or shaking the limb, the pollen 

 will be seen flyine all over inside, and the fertilizing is done. 



Now, here lies the mystery: Which variety does control or in- 

 fluence the new growing seed? It will be observed that the fine 

 dust of the pollen had settled on the tips of the pistils or stigma, 

 which had a little shiny liquid on the tips, which, adhering to the 

 pollen, dried it up, and the seed now forming, of which each has a 

 stigma or open tube that reaches from the pistil to the forming 

 seed in the core, ripens and contains the mixture of both varieties. 

 If all the pistils are equally supplied with pollen, all the trees 

 raised from these seeds would bear fruit alike, but as that is not 

 often the case, each individual seed will have the predominance of 

 either parent in a greater or lesser degree accordingly as they were 

 fertilized. An apple blossom has generally five pistils. Each of 

 them has from two to five stigmas, according to the propensity or 

 vigor of the tree. Each stigma is formed from an embryo seed, 

 and if fertilized will produce a live seed or germ. A germ has in 

 itself the power to expand and grow and reproduce again. Each 

 seed is an independent individual, and capable of varying from 

 every other one. Therefore it is necessary to guard against hav- 

 ing the blossoms exposed when they are opening if you want to 

 improve the variety by this process. As to varieties to work with, 

 I should use the Duchess or Tetofsky, or any of our Minnesota 

 seedlings that are hardy for the seed raising, and use Wallbridge, 

 Utter, or any next hardy sort of good quality for the sort to pol- 

 lenize with; or if hybrids are wanted, take the hardiest of the 

 crabs for the female and any of the other named apples for the 

 male. In this way an abundance of home-grown apples can be 

 raised. All there is required is time and a careful hand to do the 

 fertilizing. 



QUALITY OP APPLES. 



If we inquire at any commission house in Chicago or Milwaukee 

 lor the best table or dessert apple, they invariably will say we have 

 Spitzenberg or Baldwins, if they get their supply from New York 

 state. 



Now the Spitzenberg, it is true, has the highest flavor, and the 

 Baldwin a little of the same, but the flesh is hard and tough and 

 indigestible. It is a mistake to call them dessert apples, as they 

 are lacking in juiciness and dissolving properties. In my estima- 

 tion, Jonathan, Wealthy, Northern Spy and Fameuse, are now 

 quite equal to the Spitzenberg in flavor, but how far superior they 



