_ REPORT OF THE BOTANIST. - ~ 398 
Rural New Yorker,*’ and concludes that there is not sufficient evi- 
dence to warrant a belief in the direct influence of pollen, except 
possibly in the case of Indian corn. 
Mr. N. HE. Hansen, a student at the Iowa Agricultural College, con- 
cludes from a large amount of testimony collected in 1887, and from 
some personal experiments, that foreign pollen does sometimes exert 
an immediate infiuence on the fruit. 
The greatest amount of interest on the subject in this country has 
been in connection with the strawberry. Most growers who have 
given attention to the subject believe that there is a direct infiuence 
of foreign pollen, at least at times. At the last three sessions of the 
American Pomological Society the subject has been under discussion. 
Professor Lazenby, at the session of 1885,” reported experiments made 
in 1884 at the Ohio Experiment Station in which there was an appar- 
ently marked effect of foreign pollen upon the fruit of the straw- 
berry. A repetition of the experiments in 1885, however, left the 
result in doubt. 
In the same year* Mr. E. S. Goff, of the New York Experiment 
Station, crossed Crescent and Sharpless strawberries with other sorts 
and saw no influence of the cross. In 1886** he crossed the Crescent 
with pollen of three other varieties, but the fruit all appeared alike. 
In the same year he fertilized three varieties of black grapes with 
pollen of the white variety, Lady Washington, but observed no dif- 
ference in the character of the resulting berries. 
Thomas Wild, of Cooperville, Mich., has made numerous crosses 
in strawberries and believes that in some. cases an influence of the 
cross is seen the first year. Perhaps the best evidences of immediate 
influence of foreign pollen is found in the case of corn. It will be 
borne in mind, however, that the ovary here is but a thin covering 
to the seed, and that any effect observed may be due solely to a 
change in the seed itself. 
Mr. A. A. Crozier in 1879 crossed flint corn with Yellow Dent, and 
in 1886° crossed sweet corn and White Dent with Yellow Dent and 
observed an effect of the cross the same year. 
Experiments at the U. 8. Experiment Station by Dr. E. L. Sturte- 
vant upon corn, though not undertaken for the purpose of deter- 
mining this point, have satisfied him that there is an observable 
effect the first season. 
Prof. 8. M. Tracy states to the writer that he has crossed flint corn 
with yellow dent without observing any effect the first year. In 
other cases, however, an immediate effect has been seen.. 
Experiences like that recorded inthe letter of D. M. Ferry & Co., 
given below, are so common that the general opinion that corn will 
“mix” the first year seems fairly well sustained. 
Among Cucurbitacee it is generally believed that cross-fertilization 
readily occurs and that its effect appears in the fruit the first season. 
Pumpkins are supposed to influence the fruit of squashes growing 
in their vicinity; water-melons are thought to be especially liable to 
‘be injuried by citrons; and cucumbers have been said by good ob- 
*servers to affect the quality of muskmelons growing near. 
. Insome experiments by M. Naudin,*’a French scientist. on crossing 
in Cucurbitacee, the varieties in each species crossed readily and there 
seemed to be an effect the first season, but the species themselves 
refused to hybridize. Out of seventy trials between all the known 
species except one, in but five instances did the fruit set, and in. none 
of these was there a perfect seed. 
