CUCUMBER 331 



must be kept, or the pollen transferred by hand, in order 

 that the flowers may be pollenized. It is well known, 

 however, that pollination is not always necessary in order 

 to insure the 'development of fruit; but this statement 

 applies more particularly to the pure English varieties 

 rather than to American or American-English crosses. 

 In this connection, Bailey, in Bulletin 31, Cornell station, 

 makes the following statement: 



"There is a question, however, if pollination is advisable in the 

 house, for it is certain that the English cucumber will grow to per- 

 fection without seeds and entirely without the aid of pollen. I do 

 not know if this is true of the common cucumbers, but we have 

 made several unsuccessful efforts to grow Medium Green 

 (Nichol's Medium Green) in the house without pollination. White 

 Spine sets without pollen, apparently. In the early days of cu- 

 cumber forcing hand pollination was practiced, but it has been 

 abandoned by many growers. It is possible that the forcing cu- 

 rumber sets more freely now without pollen than it did before its 

 characters were well fixed, or perhaps the early gardeners per- 

 formed an unnecessary labor. Many gardeners suppose that pollen 

 causes the fruit to grow large at the end, and they therefore aim 

 to produce seedless cucumbers for the double purpose of saving 

 labor and of procuring straighter and more shapely fruits. For 

 two winters we have performed many experiments upon these ques- 

 tions, but we are not yet able to make many definite statements 

 concerning them. We have found, however, that it pays to pollinate 

 by hand if early fruits are desired. The early flowers nearly al- 

 ways fail to set if pollen is withheld, but late flowers upon the same 

 plant may set freely with no pollen. We follow the same method 

 advised by Abercrombie and other writers of last century pick 

 off a staminate flower, strip back the corolla, and insert the column 

 of anthers into a pistillate flower. Fruits which have set without 

 pollination are uniformly seedless throughout, the walls of the ovules 

 remaining loose and empty. Pollination does not occur when the 

 fruits are left to themselves in the forcing house, especially in mid- 

 winter, when pollen-carrying insects are not present. Upon old 

 plants we often prevent pollination, for experimental purposes, by 

 tying together the flower tube, or occasionally by cutting off the 



