88 CROSS-POIXENIZING THE FLOWERS. 



outward contact, but through a filamentary tube 

 which grows from the stigma to the ovule. 



There are many plants which have male and 

 female flowers growing on different parts of the plant, 

 as the squash, while others have their separate flow- 

 ers on different trees, as the mulberry, buckthorn, 

 hemp, etc. Such are called dioecius. 



It will be plain that if a flower has no stamens 

 nor anthers, we have only to protect such from the 

 ingress of possible pollen from some other flower, 

 and then at the right time introduce such pollen as 

 we may desire for the father of our artificial prog- 

 eny. This protection is by carefully encircling the 

 flower with a piece of oiled silk. The pollen is 

 easily gathered and introduced. It may be shaken 

 onto a piece of white paper, and then with a cam- 

 els hair brush dusted off into the subject flower. 



Exactly the same process is necessary in perfect 

 flowers, except that with a delicate pair of scissors 

 we must clip off and remove the anthers from all 

 the stamens before they are mature, and then apply 

 the oiled silk as before. 



Carefully mark the subjects so that you can tell 

 when the fruit is mature what the parents are; 

 plant the seeds and watch. Those that look desir- 

 able can be tested by topgrafting into bearing trees, 

 and those having the appearance of a seedling, 

 throw away. 



It may be useful to mention here to our farmer 

 friends some of the benefits of the bumble bee. 

 Darwin said that they were necessary to a good 



