52 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



the first statement he made has got ahead of the later one 

 So far as I know, there is no effect of the stauiinale parent 

 upon the fruit formed the same year, in the ordinary accep- 

 tation of thai term ; and yet there is an effect coming' about 

 in a sort oi secondary way which I will explain to you. As 

 you know, the strawberry is not the fruit; it is a large o 

 of flesh with the fruits upon the outside. Xow, when those 

 little fruits upon the outside are fertilized witli pollen from 

 another plant, the\ r develop and grow and the flesh also 

 grows so as to make the berry till out big and plump in that 

 direction ; but when any of these little seeds upon the outside 

 of the berry are not fertilized, then the strawberry at that 

 point ceases to grow so rapidly, little pits appear at those 

 places, the strawberry becomes more one-sided, and we get 

 nubbins. If we have not enough pollen to fertilize all the 

 little seeds, we are very apt to get nubbins. I have satisfied 

 myself that that is the cause, by covering a strawberry carefully 

 and then pollinating half the fruits on the surface ; and I found 

 that the strawberry did not till out upon the other side. If 

 you cut off part of the fruits on the outside, the strawberry 

 will not grow so plump. You may see proof of that fact if 

 you take a nubbin strawberry and examine it, for you will 

 find the fruits not fully grown upon the side which is imper- 

 fect. So that there may be a mechanical influence from the 

 fact that there was not enough pollen to fertilize all the 

 seeds on the outside of the berry. But my own opinion is 

 that there is no very marked effect of the pollen the first 

 year in the case of the strawberry. There arc several rea- 

 sons for this opinion. One is an experiment which I con- 

 ducted some four or five years ago for the purpose of 

 determining this fact ; and, although the experiment was not 

 extensive, it seemed to me to indicate that there is no imme- 

 diate effect of pollen. Other experimenters have arrived at 

 different conclusions, so that the whole matter is in doubt. 

 The experiments which have been alluded to as coming 

 from Michigan, but which really came from Ohio, seemed to 

 show that the first year or so there was a decided effect ; 

 but afterwards Professor Lazenby, who conducted the 

 experiments, whom I know to be a very careful man, said 

 that he thought that effect was not due to the pollen, but to 



