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HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



vantage since the chances of cross-fertilization of staminate and pistillate 

 forms under such circumstances would be remote. Where the conditions are 

 such that vines are numerous and closely adjacent, the opposite would be the 

 case, as fertilization of the pistillate flowers would be comparatively certain 

 ^nd the seedlings resulting would have the advantage over those resulting 

 from self-fertilized hermaphrodites. It must be remembered that the ad- 

 jacency referred to is not merely a matter of distance but would be modified 

 more or less by other factors, such as number and kind of insects normally 

 present, direction of wind, surrounding vegetation, etc. It mlist also be 

 remembered that although pistillate flowers are necessarily cross-fertilized it 

 does not follow that hermaphrodite flowers are self-fertilized. These may be 

 cross-fertilized also either by other hermaphrodites or by staminates, and the 

 pistallate forms may be pollinated by either the staminates or hermaphrodites. 

 In any of these cases the resulting seedling, while it would possess the indi- 

 vidual vigor due to crossing might be itself in any class so far as its phjeno- 

 logical characters are concerned. This mixing and the fact that the advan- 

 tages of each class tend to a certain extent to balance each other probably 

 account for it that neither form has supplanted the other but both are still 

 present. In reference to the question referred to in the first part of this 

 note as to whether dichogomy or the maturing of stamens and pistils 

 on the same plant at different periods might exist in the grape, observations 

 seem to show that this is not the case. The anthers usually burst and the 

 pollen is liberated before the pistils become receptive, but a good portion of 

 the pollen remains on the anther and is released gradually even some time 

 after the pistils are in a condition to be fertilized. Grape pollen is notably 

 resistant to the ordinary influences of decay' and it can be readily seen how 

 in an inconspicuously flowered plant like the grape, where insect visits might 

 not be so numerous as would be desired for pollinating purposes, keeping 

 qualities on the part of the pollen grains would be so valuable that they 

 could not be sacrificed even for so important a consideration as cross-fer- 

 tilization. The question as to whether there might not be a lack of affinity 

 between the pollen of a self-fertile grape and its own pistil will be difficult 

 to settle conclusively. What evidence we have seems to show that this does 

 not exist." Trial of the pollen of self-sterile varieties on their own pistils 

 and on the pistils of self-fertile varieties while subject to such accidents as 

 are liable to occur in such delicate work as this^ seem to show that the 

 fault lies in the condition of the pollen and not in any relation which exists 

 between the pollen and pistil. Furthermore, the fact that the phsenological 

 evolution referred to ever took place is strong negative proof that lack of 

 affinity does not exist. If any of the original hermaphrodite forms has 

 possessed that quality by which pollen of a certain plant was impotent on the 

 pistils of the same plant then there would have been no cause to produce the 



iBul. 157, N. Y. Ex. Sta., 438. Pollen was germinated by the writer three weekj 

 after it had been gathered. 



2Beach, S. A. Self-Fertility of the Grape. Investigations of 1900 and 1903. Biil. N. >J 

 Exp. Sta. (in preparation). 



2Bul. 157. N. Y. Exp. Sta. 



