POLLINATION IN ORCHARDS. 



j6:: 



from crosses made at Ithaca in 1899 will 

 illustrate this point. Fi"^. 1900 shows the 

 comparative size of Seckel when pollinated 

 with Kieffer and with Lawrence pollen. 

 Clapp pollinated with KieflFer was also larger 

 than Clapp pollinated with Lawrence or 

 Louise Bonne. Howell blossoms which re- 

 ceived the pollen of Clapp g'ave fruits of nearly 

 twice the size of those which received Bart- 

 lett pollen. Bartletts crossed with Angou- 

 leme were larger than Bartletts crossed with 

 Sheldon. In some cases no difference could 

 be noticed, yet most of our standard com- 

 mercial varieties will be likelv to vield 



Prune, Green Gage, Italian Prune (Fellen- 

 burg) ; Satsuma with Abundance, Burbank, 

 Red June ; Miner with De Soto, Forest 

 Rose, Wild Goose ; Wild Goose with De 

 Soto, Newman, Miner. 



Does Crossing Ch.a.xge the Appe.arance of 

 THE Fruit ? 



In connection with mutual affinity of varie- 

 ties which are selected for cross-pollination, 

 there comes the question of the " immediate 

 influence" of pollen. For instance, if Seckel 

 pollen is put on KieflFer pistils, will it ifri- 

 part the Seckel flavor, color and characteris- 



FiG. 1901. — Stark. From Wagoner pollen above, 



from Stark pollen below. Marked benefit 



from cross-pollination. 



enough better fruit when planted with some 

 varieties than with others, to make a study 

 of this point worth the while. 



Some of the combinations which have been 

 very successful in the commercial orchards 

 of the country are : Bartlett with Nelis, 

 Flemish Beauty, Easter, White Doyenne ; 

 Idaho w-ith Bartlett ; KieflFer with LeConte, 

 Garber ; Coe Golden Drop with French 



tic shape^to the resulting fruit ? Of course 

 the characters of both may be united in the 

 seeds, and the trees which come from these 

 seeds may be expected to be intermediates ; 

 but is the flesh of the fruit ever changed by 

 foreign pollen ? 



The increase in size which often follows 

 crossing cannot be called a true immediate 

 influence, for the foreign pollen generally 

 stimulates the fruit to be a better growth 

 because it is more acceptable to the pistils, 

 not because it carries over the size-character 

 of the variety from which it came. In 1899, 

 Hyslop Crab pistils which were fertilized 

 with pollen from the great Tompkins County 

 King, grew into fruits of the usual crab size. 

 An immediate influence in size may be possi- 

 ble, for the size of the fruit is nearly as con- 

 stant a varietal character as is the shape ; 



