May, 1916. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



ii« 



How Blossoms Are Fertilized' 



Prof. J. E. Hewitt, B.S.A., Guelph, Ont. 



'HE production of millions of dol- 

 lars worth of fruit depends 

 largely upon insect pollination, 

 md no insect is so important in this 

 rork, according to A. A. Phillips, of 

 Bureau of Entomology, Wash., as 

 16 honey bee. It is a most conserva- 

 estimate to claim that the honey 

 bee does more good to agriculture in its 

 office as a cross pollinator than it does 

 a honey gatherer. 



What is there to support this state- 

 ment? The indirect evidence we sec 

 in abundance in the numerous and won- 

 derful adaptations of flowers to pre- 

 vent self-fertilization and to insure in- 

 sect pollination. The direct evidence 

 has been obtained by experiments car- 

 ried on by the various experimental 

 .stations and is very conclusive. 



Prof. Waite, of Washington, whose 

 experiments were published in the Year 

 Book of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, reports as follows : 



"Out of 2,586 blossoms covered with 

 gauze netting only three apples set 

 fruit. Of these the Baldwin, Spitzen- 

 burg and Fameuse set some fruit. The 

 Baldwin, which is often self fertilized, 

 gave four times better results when 

 cross-pollinated. Cross-pollinated ap- 

 ples were larger, more highly colored 

 and better supplied with seed." 



Results With Pears. 



•'The Anjou, Bartlett, Clapp's Fav- 

 orite and Clairgeau were found to be 

 completely self-sterile, while the Flem- 

 ish Beauty, Seckle and Angouleme were 

 found to be more or less self-fertile. 



"Out of 153 blossoms covered of the 

 Arkansas Lombai-d no fruit set, and 

 out of 475 blossoms covered of the Wild 

 Goose (Prunus Americana), no fruit 

 set; out of 90 blossoms covered of the 

 Japanese Plum Mearu no fruit set." 



Prof. Waugh reports the following 

 insects pollinating the plum: Honey 

 bee, bumble bee, wasp -and some sliort- 

 tongued bees. Prof. Waugh confirmed 

 Waite 's work with the plum and draws 

 the following conclusions from his ex- 

 periments: The results indicate that 

 the insect visits are of prime import- 

 ance in the pollination of plums. Ob- 

 servation in the field shows that the 

 common honey bees are nearly always 

 the most active workers and the ones 

 which by the character of their opera- 

 tions in the flower may be held chiefly 

 re.sponsible for distribution of pol- 

 len. 



Mr. C. H. Hooper, in the Journal of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society, March, 

 1912, reports that when insects were 



• Extract from an address given at a short 

 course In beekeeiping at the Guelph Agricul- 

 tural College, 



excluded from gooseberries and red and 

 white currants, practically no fruit was 

 formed; from cherries a single fruit 

 set ; from plums a few set fruit ; from 

 apples out of 63 varieties onlj^ one set 

 and matured fruit, viz. : Irish Peach ; 

 and from raspberries, fruit set but re- 

 sults were not so good as with flowers 

 exposed. 



Red Clover. 



Darwin states that one hundred 

 flower heads on plants protected by a 

 net did not produce a single seed, while 

 a hundred heads on plants growing out- 

 side, which were visited by bees, yield- 

 ed 68 grains of seeds. 



Darwin's experiments with white 



clover proved that cross-pollination is 

 necessary. Twenty covered heads 

 yielded a single aborted seed, while ten 

 unprotected heads visited by bees yield- 

 ed 220 seeds. 



In Bulletin 157 of the Kansas Agri- 

 cultural Experimental Station it is 

 stated that extensive experiments have 

 shown that seed production is almost 

 entirely prevented when insects are ex- 

 cluded from the blossoms. 



In conclusion it may be said that bees 

 are absolutely indispensable for the pro- 

 duction of fruit and clover seed. With 

 cross-pollination apples are more vig- 

 orous and more resistant to disease. 



Practically no insects work except 

 bees when apples are in blossom. Some 

 varieties of apples are self-fertile, but 

 even these have more and better fruit 

 when bees are present. 



Lime in the Orchard 



Prof. W. S. Blair, KentviUe, N.S. 



I AM often asked if I would advise 

 lime for an orchard. My reply is, yes ! 

 for the purpose of starting a clover 

 cover crop, if for nothing else. It is 

 doubtful of what value lime is to in- 

 crease our apple crops, but certainly 

 many orchards will not produce clover 

 without lime. The quantity per acre 

 required will vary somewhat, and in 

 many eases all the lime requirements 

 may be made up by a judicious use of 

 slag. I am convinced, by our experi- 

 ments at Kentville, that lime in some 

 form is essential in order to get a 



growth of clover on many of our soils. 

 The reason why vetch has given better 

 results than clover is that vetch will 

 thrive on soils which are quite acid, al- 

 though liming is usiially helpful to it. 

 It has, therefore, a far wider range of 

 adaptability than clover, which tends 

 to disappear altogether when soils be- 

 come exceedingly acid. 



Lime, of itself, will not always give 

 increased crops. On poor soils there 

 is not the gain one might expect, for 

 lime will not furnish the necessary 

 nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid. 



Loading up with ammunition for the fig'ht against th^ pests. 



District, Ont. 



i'hotu takfii in Liif Niagara 



