FERTILIZATION AND CROSS-FERTILIZATION. 75 



the result is nearer the average t3'pe than in an isolated race like 

 the people of Patagonia. The cross-fertilization of clover adds 

 strength to the plants, and that clover is cross-fertilized is probable 

 from the number of bees visiting it. 



The Chairman asked if these views did not conflict with the doc- 

 trine of evolution ; to which Prof. Robinson rephed that the 

 tendenc}^ to maintain the average did not show that there could not 

 be improvement. 



Leander Wetherell remarked that the proboscis of the honey bee 

 is not long enough to reach the nectar in red clover ; and, conse- 

 quently, if bees assist in fertilizing this plant, they must be humble 

 bees. The first crop from a field of clover is always inferior for 

 seed to the second, and this has been attributed to the scarcity of 

 humble bees. It had been doubted by previous speakers whether the 

 red and the white clover flowered together ; but they do flower exten- 

 sively at the same time. Darwin says that insects, whether hive 

 bees or humble bees, visit flowers of the same species so long 

 as the}' can ; hence, where white clover is in bloom, hive bees con- 

 tinue to gather nectar from it as long as it lasts, so that there is 

 significance in the market phrase, " white clover honey." There is 

 no more crossing between red and white clover than there is among 

 beans of different species. The non-fertihzation spoken of in an 

 isolated stalk of corn is owing to a deficiency of pollen, more than to 

 the want of cross-fertilization. The same rule holds in regard to 

 animals as to plants — the progeny of a scrub crossed with a high 

 bred animal will be larger than the thoroughbred. In Darwin's 

 experiments tobacco formed a curious exception to other plants ; 

 onty one crossed plant out of three showed superiority over the 

 self-fertilized. It would be well for farmers and seedsmen to 

 consider the practical points brought out in Darwin's new book. 



Mr. Hovey thought that a portion of Mr. Darwin's views, such 

 as those relating to carnivorous and gregarious plants were sensa- 

 tional ; but he did not apply that term to his experiments . Mr. Hovey 

 quoted from Prof. Gray's lecture at Mount Holyoke Seminary, in 

 September, 1875, as reported in the "Scientific Farmer:" "All 

 showy, fragrant, and honey-bearing flowers are arranged for cross- 

 fertilization. Nature abhors in-and-in breeding, and, like a wise 

 teacher, shuns it in practice." In the " American Agriculturist '' 

 for Jauuar}', 1877, Prof. Gray says, "Cross-fertilization, we may 

 well believe, is the best thing, but it is risky. Cross-fertilization, 



