THE FRUIT GROWERS GUIDE. 



nature the pollen is distributed by the agency of insects or wind. It follows therefore 

 that it must be dry enough for dispersion, for if wet weather prevail throughout the 

 blossoming periods, the dust-like particles on the anthers are converted into a pasty mass, 

 and therefore cannot be distributed. In that case trees are either barren or bear scanty 

 crops of fruit. It would be a mistake to assume that all readers of these lines are able 

 to distinguish between the pistil and stamens of a flower, but they can determine the 

 point in a few moments by examining the flower of a fuchsia or lilium. The pistil 

 grows from the centre, and the thickened glutinous end is the stigma. The stamens 

 grow round the central organ and are shorter, their ends (anthers) producing pollen. 

 When the grains of these, b y Fig. 3, are applied to the stigma its moisture causes them 



Fig. 3. FLOWEBS : () Carpel or stigma, with ovule and germ, showing pollen grains (t>) and tubes (c) entering 

 the microphyte in ovule (d), highly magnified, (e) Pollen transference by bees-natural fertilisation. 



to adhere, also to elongate downwards in the form of tubes (c) that pass through a 

 canal down to the swollen base (ovary) or seed vessel (d\ In that way the character 

 of the seed is determined. If a plant or tree is fertilised with its own pollen, and 

 seedlings are raised and grown, the flowers and fruit will be similar to the parent, but if 

 the flower is fertilised with pollen from another variety the seedlings partake of the 

 nature of both parents. To ensure a desired cross between two varieties for obtaining 

 a third variety distinct from both, the stamens are cut off before the pollen cells burst, 



