176 HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



seeds of the hand-pollinated frnit can either l)e sent to the Experiment Station 

 to be grown on their grounds, or kept and grown by the man raising them, 

 and the latter method is preferred. It keeps the man's interest alive in the 

 work to have his own seedlings growing before him, and for him to watch 

 for their first fruits. He not only watches them himself, but he shows them 

 to his friends and awakens their interest, and thus it keeps spreading from 

 one farm to another, and the interests of plant breeding are advanced. 



Horticulturists often hesitate to take up the work of hand-pollination 

 because of the tediousness of the work. At best it is a slow and painstaking 

 operation. It comes at a season when the horticulturist is crowded with 

 work, and the short time that the blooming period lasts necessitates that all 

 the work must be crowded into a very few days. Anything that will facilitate 

 the details of the operation is of prime importance to the plant breeder. In 

 order to determine some way of lessening the details of the work, the Iowa 

 Experiment Station last spring made comparative tests of different methods 

 of pollinating the apple. 



HIGH VERSUS LOW EMASCULATION. 



In high emasculation the corolla and anthers v.ere removed with tweezers, 

 and the calyx was not disturbed. In low emasculation the calyx, corolla and 

 stamens were removed by cutting through the blossom just at the base of the 

 sepals, being careful not to injure the pistils. This necessitates very careful 

 work and cutting entirely around the blossom. Low emasculation has the 

 advantage that it can be done much more expeditiously than high emascula- 

 tion, and if the results of pollination w'ere satisfactory would be a decided 

 advantage. But in fifty-nine blossoms emasculated low in five different varie- 

 ties of apples only seven fruits set, or less than 2 per cent. ; and in eighty- 

 eight blossoms emasculated high twenty-three set fruit, or slightly over 26 per 

 cent. The results were even more pronounced in the Wealthy apple. Fifty 

 blossoms emasculated high and pollinated with Ben Davis pollen set eleven 

 fruits, or 22 per cent. Twenty-five emasculated low set only one fruit, or 

 4 per cent. 



POLLINATION AT TIME OF E.M ASCULATION. 



It is a commonly accepted idea that better results are obtained from 

 pollination if delayed for two or three days after emasculation, or until after 

 the stigmas come into a receptive condition, as shown by the viscid fluid that 

 shows on their surface. To follow this method necessitates the covering of 

 the blossoms when emasculated and then going over them again to pollinate 

 them, and resacking. A test w-as made of the effect of pollinating as soon as 

 emasculated, and of delaying it two or three days till the stigmas should come 

 into a receptive condition. The results were very decidedly in favor of the 

 immediate pollination. Out of 134 blossoms, consisting of Wealthy, Wal- 

 bridge and Grant Crab, mostly Wealthy, pollinated as soon as emasculated, 95 

 fruit set, or a fraction less than 71 per cent., while in 83 blossoms of the same 

 varieties, pollinated three and four days later (the weather being cool), only 

 13 fruit set, or a trifle over 15 per cent. 



The blossoms were emasculated in the ordinary method, removing only 

 corolla and anthers. These results would seem to indicate that better results 

 can be obtained if the pollen is placed on the stigmas as soon as the blossom 



