FERTILIZATION AND CROSS-FERTILIZATION. 85 



results he desires. The question for him is, how he can unite the 

 properties of two varieties so as to count certainly on the result, 

 instead of leaving it to the operation of natural causes, which elude 

 our control or observation. 



Benjamin P. Ware said the question before us is whether Nature 

 provides for self-fertilization or cross-fertilization. It seemed to 

 him that all the facts brought forward as illustrations, tend to show 

 that Nature more generally provides that blossoms should be fertil- 

 ized from the pollen of neighboring blossoms, rather than from that of 

 their own. The fact that a plant of corn growing alone fails to pro- 

 duce well filled ears shows that it is dependent upon neighboring 

 plants to supply pollen for complete impregnation. The ethereal 

 nature of the pollen of most plants seems to make it peculiarly fitted 

 to be carried by the wind to fertilize other blossoms than those in 

 which it was produced. 



Edward S. Rand, Jr., said that Nature aimed only at the perpetua- 

 tion of the species. This was mainly done by means of seed, and 

 all the various methods of distributing the pollen, b}' wind, insects, 

 gravitation, or other agencies, were exerted solely with that end in 

 view. Man avails himself of these results, and often Nature's so- 

 called accidents prove superior to the fruit of his best directed 

 eflforts. 



In repl}' to a question from Mr. Wetherell as to the fertilization 

 of orchids, Mr. Rand said they were generally incapable of fer- 

 tilization without the aid of some foreign agency, and that insects 

 were the agents emplo^-ed by Nature to secure the perpetuation of 

 this class of plants. In performing this service the insects are blind 

 agents, doing the work while seeking food. The orchid flowers are 

 so formed that in order to get at the honey, a violent disruption of 

 the flower is generall}- necessary, and the sticky masses of pollen 

 are often carried away on the heads of insects, who thus effect fer- 

 tilization. In illustration of these remarks, Mr. Rand mentioned 

 the singular structure of'Angrcecum sesquipedale, an orchid peculiar 

 to Madagascar. (See the Transactions for 1874, Part I, p. 26.) 



Rev. A. B. Muzzey thought this subject required a knowl- 

 edge of science. Sometimes the cultivator appeared distrustful of 

 the scientist in the discussion of questions like the present, and 

 would look onh' to practical laborers for an}- reliable information. 

 This should not be ; he thought both classes could aid in such dis- 

 cussions. The cultivator could furnish the facts needed in each 



