142 AGRONOMY 



removing the flower buds as fast as they form. If one desires 

 flowers and fruit, however, all efforts should be bent toward 

 aiding the plant to store up reserve food, since the more food 

 it has, the likelier it is to bloom. Fruiting is really a device 

 of the plant for self-preservation, and whatever threatens the 

 growth processes may serve to bring it about. A plant injured 

 by lightning or defoliated by insects is likely to spring into 

 bloom again even in autumn. Pinching back the tips, remov- 

 ing some of the roots, withholding water, or planting in sterile 

 soil will usually induce the plant to fruit. Certain varieties 

 of strawberries, pears, apples, plums, and other plants are often 

 infertile when pollinated with pollen from their own flowers. 

 Even when planted in groups they may produce abundant 

 bloom but set little fruit. The remedy here is to plant among 

 them other varieties with effective pollen. In a few other forms 

 the pistils and stamens are produced on separate individuals, 

 and no fruits can be produced, therefore, if the pollen-bearing 

 plant is absent. Still other plants are adapted to cross-pollination 

 by insects, and though the pollen-bearing plant or flower may 

 be present, they set no fruits if the necessary insect fails to 

 visit them. In growing melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, and 

 the like in the hothouse, in winter, pollination must be per- 

 formed by hand. Morning is the best time for this work. A 

 soft camel's-hair brush, to which the pollen adheres, may be 

 used for the transfer of the pollen, or a stick of sealing wax 

 which has been electrified by rubbing with a cloth may be 

 used to pick up the pollen grains and drop them upon the 

 stigmas of the flowers to be pollinated. 



Thinning. When the young plants are well up, it will be 

 necessary to thin them, if planted very thickly. Thinning 

 should be done as early as the plants can be conveniently 

 handled, so that the specimens left may have room to develop 

 naturally. Plants that are not thinned become drawn and 

 spindling and do not produce good crops. The distance apart 



