POLLENATION BY NATURE'S METHOD 35 







the ovule of which had been fecundated by the pollen of a variety 

 belonging to a different species, while both parent varieties of a 

 cross are of the same species. More vigorous and hardier types are 

 produced by hybridizing than by crossing; for this reason it is of 

 greater value in the creation of new grafting-stocks. 



To make the operation better understood it is necessary first 

 to give a short description of the flowers of different seedlings and 

 the process of fecundation. There are three kinds of flowers in 

 grapes : 



1. The perfect, hermaphrodite, with well developed pistil and 

 stamens, capable of self-pollenation, Fig. 1. All Viniferas which 

 are cultivated have such flowers. 



2. The practically pistillate flower with perfect pistil, but 

 weak recurved stamens, generally incapable of self-pollenation. 

 Fig. 2. 



3. The staminate flower, with perfect stamens, but without 

 pistil. Fig. 3. Example : Rupestris St. George. 



Only vines with either hermaphrodite or pistillate flowers, pos- 

 sessing a perfectly developed pistil, can bear fruit. But in most 

 cases the pistil does not develop into a grape/unless one or more of 

 its ovules have been fecundated by a pollen grain. 



Pollenation by Nature's Method. 



The pistil of a hermaphrodite flower may be pollenated by the 

 pollen of its own anthers, the enlarged upper portion of the stam- 

 ens, but with pistillate flowers generally only cross-pollenation is 

 efficacious, that is, the pollen must come from a different vine. 

 This latter is also with hermaphrodite flowers more effective and 

 consequential of better results. It seems to be Nature's preferred 

 method in producing new and more vigorous and valuable types in 

 plant life. Gentle winds and small winged insects, visiting the 

 flowers to gather nectar, are pollen distributors. Whenever a pollen 

 grain is deposited on the stigma, the enlarged upper portion of the 

 pistil, and this is in its receptive state, which is generally after a 

 flower has opened on a warm fair day at about 10 a. m., it begins 

 to germinate in the moist, gummy substance and send down its 

 threadlike roots in one of the minute tubes of the pistil, penetrating 

 the ovule cell-wall and intermingling its substance protoplasm 

 with the protoplasm of the ovule. The pistil holding such a fructi- 

 fied ovule at once begins to enlarge and in time becomes a mature 

 grape and the ovules develop seeds within. 



As male vines have not a flower with pistil, it is clear, that 



