A MEDLEY OF PUMPKINS. 119 



No. 10 was an oblong, light yellow, softish fruit. 

 Nos. 4 and 5 had very large blossom scars. 

 Nos. I, 2 and 3 had scars about half as large as above. 

 Nos. 8, 9 and 10 had scars about a quarter as large. 

 Nos. 6 and 7 had very small blossom scars. 



Crosses were made in 1893 between some of these crosses themselves, 

 care being taken to choose the pistils and pollen from plants that bore very 

 similar fruits. Of all these crosses only one fruit matured. 



An interesting result of these experiments was the fact that squash 

 and pumpkin flowers are nearly always infertile with pollen borne by the 

 same vine. Over two hundred careful tests were made on this subject 

 with more than fifty varieties of pumpkins and squashes. Out of the whole 

 number, only seven fruits were obtained that had good seeds. In most 

 cases the ovary failed to develop. In some cases the ovary remained alive 

 for some days, and it enlarged to two or three times its size at anthesis ; 

 but in most cases it finally perished, beginning to die away from the blossom 

 or pistil end. In some cases, however, the fruits matured, being to all 

 appearances normal, but they were usually empty or produced hollow seeds. 

 In one experiment with five varieties of Cucurbita Pepo, representing both 

 summer squashes and gourds, one hundred and eighty-five flowers were 

 hand-pollinated with pollen from the same plant. All but twenty-two of 

 these flowers failed to develop their ovaries. These twenty-two fruits grew 

 to full maturity and appeared to be normal squashes in every way. Some 

 of them, however, were wholly seedless, the seeds being represented by very 

 small, undeveloped seed-coats. In a few others the seeds appeared to be 

 good, but when they were opened it was found that they had no embryos. 

 Of the twenty-two fruits that came to maturity only seven bore good seeds, 

 and even in some of these the seeds were very few. All the seeds of these 

 seven fruits were sown for the purpose of determining .what the effects of 

 inbreeding would be. It was found, however, that the progeny was just as 

 variable as that grown from crossed seeds. The record of the progeny of 

 these seven fruits is as follows : 



Fruit No. 1. Four vines were obtained from seeds of this fruit, with four 

 different types, two of them being white, one yellow and one black. 



Fniit No. 2. Twenty-three vines. Fifteen types very unlike, twelve 

 being white and three yellow. 



Fruit No. S- Two vines. One type of fruit which was almost like one 

 of the original parents. 



Fruit No. 4. Thirty-two vines. Six types, differing chiefly in size 

 and shape. 



Fruit No. 5. Twenty vines. Nineteen types, of which ten were white, 

 eight orange, one striped, and all very unlike. 



Fruit No. 6. Thirteen vines. Eleven types, eight yellow, two black, 

 one white. 



Fruit No. 7. One vine. 



Very unusual crossings sometimes resulted in the production of 

 apparently good fruit. For example, a bush scallop squash crossed with 



