Tfie following paper was read by H. C. Price. 



HAND POLLINATION OF ORCHARD FRUITS 



H* C. Price, Horticultural State College, Ames, Iowa. 



To the plant breeder thoroughly endowed with a love of his work and 

 appreciating the possibilities that lie before him, the Northwest offers an 

 enchanting field for labor. The prairie conditions of the Mississippi Valley 

 are peculiar to themselves in soil and climate. No place on the globe has an 

 equal body of land abounding in such agricultural wealth. Tempered by no 

 inland lakes, sheltered by no surrounding mountains, and protected by no 

 native forests, our conditions are extremely severe. 



The first settlers brought with them the varieties of fruit they had grown 

 in the East, and saw them "go out," unable to stand the trying conditions. 

 The country was scoured for hardier varieties, but with little success. Im- 

 portations were made from other countries, notably Eastern Europe and West- 

 ern Asia, and at one time it was thought that a panacea had been found for all 

 troubles in this foreign stock. They were heralded as cold resisting, disease 

 resisting and insect resisting, but experience has taught that the real value of 

 a large majority of them will be as a means to the end in the hands of the 

 plant breeder rather than in any inherent value they may possess themselves. 



The plant breeder has the opportunity now to gather up the broken threads 

 of these dismal failures, and by bringing together the good qualities and elimi- 

 nating the bad to produce the longed for fruits. 



To do this we must awaken an interest in plant breeding among horti- 

 culturists; we must have their co-operation. The task that to one man may 

 seem hopeless, to a thousand is but recreation. For one man to hand- 

 pollinate one hundred blossoms each spring is not much of a task, but if 

 1,000 men would do this we would have 100,000 blossoms bred each spring. 



The production of hardy varieties is the work for the masses, and not for 

 the single experimenter. Success in plant breeding is best obtained by rais- 

 ing large numbers of seedlings, and destroying with a free hand. Hand- 

 pollination is too tedious work for one man to do a great deal of in the 

 short time that he can work. The operation itself is not difficult, and can be 

 done by any one with a little practice. 



In order to get horticulturists to co-operate in this work the Iowa Experi- 

 ment Station has been sending pollen to any that would agree to do the work 

 under their directions. Pollen is gathered in the southern part of the State, 

 and is distributed from the Experiment Station. Certain crosses are recom- 

 mended, and the pollen is supplied to make these crosses. In the fall the 



