1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



215 



TREATISE ON POLLINATION OF AP- 

 PLE-BLOSSOMS. 



BY C. I. LEWIS AND C. C. VINCENT, 



of Oregon Agricultural College Experiment Station, 



Con'allis, Oregon. 



[We take pleasure in presenting the following arti- 

 cle from Better Fruit, on the subject of fruit-blossom 

 fertilization, as it is of special interest to the majority 

 of our readers at this time. Being written from the 

 standpoint of the fruit-grower it is, of course, abso- 

 lutely without prejudice in favor of the bees.— ED.] 



It was not until the close of the last decade 

 that the signiticance of pollination of apple 

 aT.d pear blossoms came into prominence. 

 Through the efforts of M. B. Waite, in the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, in- 

 telligent light was thrown upon this impor- 

 tant question. 



As far oack as 1793 the importance of in- 

 sects in pollination was impressed upon the 

 minds of many investigators; and Mr. Spren- 

 gel, a German writer, published a book en- 

 titled, "The Secret of Nature in the Form 

 and Fertilization of Flowers Discovered," 

 ^v'lich proved to be an effective stimulus for 

 :u..i. :> work upon this interesting study. ^ 



PLATE I.— FIRST STEP IN EMASCULATION 



While Sprengel's work was practically for- 

 gotten, other investigators were making 

 acute observations on the cross- fertilization 

 of flowers, which completely overthrew the 

 theory advanced by Sprengel. of the inde- 

 pendent creation of species. Not long after 

 Sprengel's book appeared, Andrew Knight 

 carried on some very interesting experi- 

 ments on the cross and self fertilization of the 

 pea, and arrived at the conclusion that in no 

 plant does self-fertilization occur for an un- 

 limited number of generations. 



But it was not until after the appearance 

 of Darwin's "Origin of Species" that 

 Knight's theory was emphasized as a general 

 law of nature. At this time the real value of 

 Sprengel's work was realized, and his dis- 

 coveries opened up new paths for investiga- 

 tion, especially along the lines which were 

 to determine the forms of flowers. 



In Darwin's "Origin of Species" cross- 

 fertilization was emphasized; but no special 

 significance was attached to this discovery 

 until the appearance of his second work, en- 

 titled "Various Contrivances by which Brit- 

 ish and Foreign Orchids are Fertilized by 



PLATE II.— REMOVING THE PETALS 



Insects." When summing up his work he 

 states, " Nature abhors perpetual self-fertil- 

 ization." Not content with these results, he 

 explored new lines of investigation, and 

 from careful observations noted differences 

 in the action of pollen on the same and 

 another flower. Darwin's work, "Variation 

 of Animals and Plants under Domestication, " 

 suggests many interesting lines of original 

 research work, and from these suggestions 

 experimenters have branched out into new 

 fields of investigation. 



It was largely through the efforts of Dar- 

 win that Waite carried out the experiments 

 outlined in his bulletin, "The PolHnation of 

 Pear Blossoms." Since then many investi- 

 gators, such as F. A. Waugh, S. A. Beach, 

 C. P. Close, M. M. Munson, S. W. Fletcher, 

 U. P. Hedrick, and many others from the 

 agricultural colleges in the United States, 

 have worked on pollination problems. Like- 

 wise H. Mueller- Turgau, 0. Kirchner, and 

 Dr. Ewert, of Europe, have also carried' on 

 many investigations and experiments on 

 this subject. The many reports sent into 

 this station from various parts of our State, 

 complaining of the lack of setting of fruit, 

 have led to investigations on this problem 

 by this department, some of which are re- 

 ported in this bulletin. 



METHOD OF EMASCULATION. 



Any one contemplating the carrying-on of 

 pollination experiments must have a thor- 

 ough knowledge of the parts of a flower be- 

 fore a high degree of success can be ob- 



PLATE III.— REMOVING THE STAMENS 



