SEED-VESSELS WE EAT 233 



in growing. It is the part that is sweet and 

 edible. 



Now, the setting of seed depends upon the 

 pollenating of the flowers. Some are self-pollen- 

 ated. Some require cross-pollenating by wind or 

 by insect assistance. The Smyrna fig is one that 

 cannot set fruit by itself. That is why the little 

 fruits fall. No use to form fruits with no seeds 

 in them. So the imported trees seem to think. 



In the orchards of Turkey, wild figs, the Capri 

 species, with plenty of pollen, but worthless fruit, 

 are planted. So the investigators from America 

 sent the wild species over to plant in California 

 fig orchards, thinking that this would solve the 

 difficulty. They also sent word that the Smyrna 

 growers cut off the wild figs and hung them in the 

 trees of the cultivated sorts, to make the setting 

 of fruit sure. This was done in America. But 

 the small figs kept on dropping. 



Is the pollen ripe just when the flowers are 

 ready to be fertilized? How in the world does it 

 get in through the narrow door of the fruit? 

 How does it get scattered inside, so that hun- 

 dreds of stigmas receive it? These questions put 

 the scientist on the right track. He set a watch 

 upon the Capri fig trees and the Smyrna trees in 

 their own country. 



