STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. II5 



vated plants can go thus far alone. With the approach of 

 maturity, their productive function develops, and buds and blos- 

 soms appear. Now the energy of the plant, working independ- 

 ently in this direction, is not sufficient, for the time has reached 

 its limit. It must now seek and receive the assistance of insect 

 visitors, and divide its labors with the members of the winged 

 world before the crowning work of seed production can begin. 



And now for. a moment let us glance at the structure of a 

 typical flower in order that we may better appreciate the plant's 

 great need of external assistanceand the important role of insects 

 in plant economy. We find such a flower made up of four dis- 

 tinct sets of organs, the two outer sets, the sepals and petals, 

 serving to guard and protect the inner essential organs and as 

 guide-boards on which are displayed directions for the insect 

 visitors. The slender stamens bear the pollen with which the 

 flowers are fertilized. The pistil receives the pollen grains and 

 conducts their vivifying contents into the seed-producing region 

 at its base. This is a brief summary of our knowledge of the 

 functions of the flower organs. The essential facts are now com- 

 monly understood, even by school children, but by what slow 

 and difficult stages have they been determined ! Early students 

 of flowers held that the pollen, as well as the nectar, was in the 

 nature of an excretion, an undesirable product from which the 

 flower must free itself. 



In 1682 Nehemias Grew astounded the savants of that day by 

 the announcement of the fact, well substantiated by examples, 

 that the pollen was the means of insuring the fertilization of 

 the flower, and that unless it reached the stigma, no seed could 

 be produced. In the general controversy that followed the 

 announcement of Grew's discovery, much valuable energy was 

 wasted in argument, and not until some fifty years later did 

 the fact became firmly established and generally accepted. The 

 work of Linnseus at this time, covering a large number of inves- 

 tigations, removed all doubt as to the function of pollen. But 

 even the great Linnseus, "father of natural history," though he 

 was, seems to have been in error as to the method by which fer- 

 tilization took place. He appears to have believed that the 

 stamens grew up over the pistil, and at the right moment dis- 

 charged their golden load upon the waiting stigma — all of 

 which was ingenious, but not altogether correct. 



