APPLES 



409 



stances the seeds are killed and there is 

 little or no development of them, though 

 there may be some. I'sually such fruit 

 develops somewhat abnormally, frequently 

 producing in pears what is described as 

 "bull-neck." Such fruit will usually hang 

 on the trees up to the time they are 

 ready to make the last swell before pick- 

 ing time, then they will drop in quan- 

 tities. Often if not too badly injured 

 they will develop sufficient size to be mar- 

 ketable. 



Another cause of the shedding of some 

 fruit, though probably in general of an 

 inconsiderable quantity, is the spraying 

 of trees when in full bloom. Careful ex- 

 periments conducted along this line by 

 several experimenters have demonstrated 

 that when the trees were thoroughly 

 sprayed before the blossoms had been pol- 

 linated they failed to set fruit. Usually, 

 however, if two or three days have 

 elapsed after pollination and before the 

 spraying, such fruits will set perfectly. 

 Furthermore, on most varieties the blos- 

 soms open at intervals for several days 

 and one spraying would not be likely to 

 injure all the blossoms in any one clust- 

 er. 



It will be seen from the foregoing and 

 as" pointed out above that we must take 

 into consideration several factors other 

 than pollination when we are looking 

 for the cause of failure of blossoms to 

 set. However, we think it is safe to 

 say that all varieties of pome fruits, at 

 least apples and pears, even though the 

 varieties are termed self-fertile, are bene- 

 fited by having other varieties planted 

 with them as poUenizers. By the term 

 self-fertile variety we mean one which is 

 capable of setting perfect fruit without 

 the aid of pollen from another variety. 

 By self-sterile we mean that a variety is 

 not capable of setting fruit without some 

 other variety being planted with It to 

 furnish pollen. One frequently meets 

 with the term partially self-fertile, or 

 partially self-sterile. By this is meant 

 that under certain conditions a limited 

 number of fruits will set. By far the 

 greater number of our varieties must 

 be classed in the self-sterile or partially 



self-sterile list and as above pointed out 

 it is always best to plant two or more 

 varieties together. However, we must 

 guard against planting too many vari- 

 eties. One variety as a pollenizer for 

 another will serve every purpose that 

 twenty would. Thus an orchard of Bart- 

 letts and d'Anjous would serve to pol- 

 linate each other as well as if we plant- 

 ed among them a dozen or more vari- 

 eties. In the past one of the greatest 

 difficulties has been that the orchardists 

 have gone on the supposition that if a 

 little is good, more will be better and 

 some have planted all the way from fif- 

 teen to twenty varieties, many of them 

 worthless, merely for the sake of secur- 

 ing cross-pollination. This is a mistaken 

 idea and one that should be guarded 

 against. Of course, if one wishes to grow 

 a number of varieties for other reasons 

 there can be no objection from a pollina- 

 tion standpoint but otherwise it is to be 

 avoided. 



The main point that must be taken in- 

 to consideration in the study of the pol- 

 lination problem is the so-called second- 

 ary effect of pollen. By this we mean the 

 effect let us say, of Spitzenburg pollen on 

 a Newton apple in the immediate cross. 

 Much has been written for and against 

 the use of certain pollenlzers and we 

 believe that we must conclude that in 

 .general there is very little effect other 

 than a change in size of the fruit, in- 

 crease in percentage of set, and uniform- 

 ity of crop. Flavor, quality, keeping 

 quality and color are probably not affect- 

 ed in the least. 



This suljject has been discussed from 

 the earliest times, ever since the pollin- 

 ation problem has begun to be investi- 

 gated, but from carefully conducted ex- 

 periments the last several j-ears we be- 

 lieve that we must conclude that if other 

 noticeable effects are manifested they 

 are exceptionally rare indeed. The same 

 conclusions have been reached by other 

 very careful workers along this line. Too 

 much credence has been placed in spo- 

 radic instances of apparent effect. Thus 

 we frequently hear that if a Spitzenburg 

 apple has a bright yellow band from 



