XXXI 



Pollination 



THE study of pollination as a 

 question of practical pomology 

 is something new. Only the 

 most recent books treat of it. 

 Nevertheless, it is now known 

 to be a matter of great impor- 

 tance with many fruits ; and with 

 none more than with the plums. 

 When the native plums first 

 began to be cultivated in this country, their general 

 self-sterility was a drawback which in many cases 

 proved fatal to their success. The settlers in the prai- 

 rie states found many good plums growing along the 

 river banks, and of these they gathered freely for their 

 own use. When a specially good tree was found, 

 bearing an abundance of extra fine fruit, that tree was 

 marked, and the next spring the settler removed it to 

 his garden on the homestead. But such trees often 

 failed to fruit or proved altogether unsatisfactory when 

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