THE EFFECT OF POLLINATION, 



.F late much has been said and writ- 

 ten in regard to the effects of dif- 

 ferent pollen regulating" the size 

 of fruits. In several back numbers 

 of the Canadian Horticulturist, this subject 

 has been fully treated, and again in an ex- 

 cellent Pamphlet, No. 1 8 1, by S.W. Fletcher 

 of the Cornell University Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station, in which the author draws 

 attention to the following facts proven by 

 experiment in regard to pears. Seckel pol- 

 linated with Keiffer pears are much im- 

 proved, whilst Lawrence pollen has not 

 much effect. Clapp's Favorite, when pol- 

 linated with Keiffer, was much larger than 

 when pollinated with Lawrence. Louise 

 Bonne and Howell, when pollinated with 

 Clapp's were twice the size of those pollin- 

 ated by Bartlett, and turning to stone fruit, 

 Coe's Golden, when crossed with French 

 prune was much improved, and Green Gage 

 crossed with Italian prune was improved, 

 and Satsuma crossed with Abundance was 

 also improved. 



But to come to results obtained near 

 home, the writer, in 1894 planted a 

 pear orchard of 1200 trees, and, amongst 

 other varieties planted, put Duchess and 



Keiffer in each alternate row ; the fruit last 

 year was not verj' plentiful, but the eflfect 

 about to be stated was noticeable. This 

 year the trees were well loaded, being clean 

 and smooth, and there the effect of bene- 

 ficial pollination was very much shown. 

 In the illustrations, Nos. i, 2, 3 and 4, No. 

 I shows a Keiffer 'pear pollinated with 

 Duchess, No. 2 a Duchess pollinated with 

 Keiffer, Nos. 3 and 4 show an average 

 sized Keiffer and Duchess respectively. 



Now here in picture No. i we see the 

 good effect of Duchess pollen in the Keiffer 

 pear. Observe the characteristic enlarge- 

 ment of the blossom end, common in the 

 Duchess; the skin, too, was of the rough 

 speckled Duchess type, whilst the flavor 

 was much improved. Placed side by side 

 with a Duchess, not one prominent fruit- 

 grower could tell the difference when shown 

 both. 



No. 2 shows a Duchess pollinated by 

 Keiffer pollen ; here it makes the Duchess 

 smaller ; note the tendency to grow smaller 

 at each end, and especially the familiar ring 

 or bulge half way down the i>ear, so com- 

 mon in the Keiffer pear. The flesh, too, 

 was coarse and more gritty ; it lacked, too. 



