NEW VARIETIES OF FRUITS. 31 



At the summit of the pistillum are the organs of secre- 

 tion called stigmata, consisting of one or more intercellu- 

 lar passages leading thence to the base, where are situated 

 the cell or cells in which are placed the ovula, or the rudi- 

 ments of seeds. 



The pollen, when viewed through a microscope, is found 

 to consist of extremely minute hollow balls, filled with a 

 fluid in which swim innumerable particles of an oblong or 

 spherical form, and having an apparently spontaneous mo- 

 tion. When the anther is mature, it bursts or opens with 

 an elastic force, by which its contents are dispersed, and a 

 portion of them falling on the stigma, which is of lax tissue, 

 the moving particles of pollen descend through the tissue 

 of the style, by routes specially destined by nature, into 

 the cells where the ovula are placed, and these, being 

 thus vivified, are converted into the seeds or embryo of a 

 future plant. 



The operation of hybridizing, or cross fertilization, must 

 be performed in a dry day, and before the blossom is en- 

 tirely expanded j the most favorable moment is just before 

 the rising of the sun; the pollen, being at that time humid, 

 is closely attached to the anthers. The blossoms must be 

 carefully opened, and the anthers extracted by delicate 

 scissors, care being taken neither to wound the filaments 

 which support them, or any other part of the flower. 



About nine o'clock, the blossoms being exposed to the 

 full influence of the sun, the matured pollen from another 

 variety must be carefully placed on the blossom which it 

 is intended to fertilize, and from which the anthers have 

 been extracted ; and this operation must be repeated twice 

 or thrice during the course of the day. By shaking the 

 blossoms over a sheet of white paper, the time when it is 

 perfectly mature will be ascertained. It is necessary to 

 protect the prepared blossoms from the bees and other in- 

 sects with thin muslin or gauze, which will not exclude 

 the sun or air ; and it is proper also to protect them from 

 the rain and dews, till a swelling is perceived in the germ. 



By screening the plants from the sun, and by frequent 

 waterings, the maturity of the pollen and the stigma may 

 be retarded. 



When the process has been successful, the pollen, which 

 had been placed on the stigma, becomes so attached, that 

 it cannot be removed with a hair pencil ; it changes form 



