APPLES 



417 



of three feet and 15 feet from the tree 

 caught but five grains. 



On April 28 slides were set near a very 

 full blooming Kinnaird and left seven 

 and one-half hours in a wind blowing 

 four or five miles per hour. Number 

 four was set at a height of six feet, 15 

 feet from the tree, and caught 10 grains 

 of pollen. Number five was set at a 

 height of six feet, 25 feet from the tree, 

 and caught but three grains of pollen. 

 Number six, at a height of three feet, 15 

 feet from the tree, held five grains of 

 pollen. The same day slides were set 

 near a tree of Cullen and left for the 

 same length of time, seven and one-half 

 hours. Number seven was set at a height 

 of eight and one-half feet, 33 feet from 

 the tree, and caught but seven grains of 

 pollen. 



From foregoing results it will be seen 

 that the wind does aid in pollination. 

 The reason why more grains of pollen 

 were caught by the slides further away 

 from the tree than those close to it is 

 because the grains of pollen hold to- 

 gether to some extent until they are 

 blown apart by the wind. Though this 

 is all true it cannot be expected that 

 the wind is much of an agent in the 

 pollination of orchards. To illustrate, let 

 us compare the apple with the pine. The 

 pine is fertilized almost entirely by the 

 wind and without doubt there are as 

 many pistils to fertilize in pine as in 

 the apple; yet, though there are showers 

 of pollen from the pine that make the 

 ground yellow, some of the pistils escape 

 fertilization, as will be seen on the ex- 

 amination of a pine cone, by the number 

 of infertile seeds it contains. By com- 

 paring the amount of pollen produced by 

 the apple with that produced by the pine, 

 it will readily be seen that the wind is a 

 very insignificant agent in the pollina- 

 tion of our orchards. 



The notes as to the number of pollen 

 grains were taken for about one square 

 centimeter. As each apple blossom con- 

 tains five pistils and each is only the 

 fraction of a centimeter, wind pollina- 

 tion would be more accidental than 

 otherwise. G. O. Greene, 



Manhattan. Kan. 



Hybridiitatioii 



ProdHOtion of New Varieties by Cross 



Pollination 



From our own experience and the ex- 

 perience of others, it would appear that 

 if a good late keeping apple is desired, 

 the chances are very slight that it will 

 be produced from seeds of an early 

 apple. On the other hand, seeds from a 

 late keeping apple will not, necessarily, 

 produce late keeping varieties. Apples 

 have been so inter-crossed, in nature, for 

 hundreds of years, that the characteris- 

 tics of many varieties are apparent in 

 the seedlings of one. It is possible that 

 there never was a case where a seedling 

 of a cultivated variety of apple was iden- 

 tical in every respect with its parent. 

 If it is desired, then, to originate a new 

 variety, the following methods are recom- 

 mended as being the most likely to pro- 

 duce the variety with the characteristics 

 sought for, although thousands of seed- 

 lings may have to be grown to attain 

 this purpose: 



1. To produce a hardy apple where 

 no apples have yet been found hardy: 

 Sow seeds of apples which have ripened 

 in a climate as nearly similar as pos- 

 sible. 



2. To produce a hardy long keeping 

 apple of good quality: Sow seeds of long 

 keeping apples of good quality which 

 have ripened in a similar climate, and 

 when possible have both parents long 

 keeping varieties. 



3. To produce an apple having certain 

 characteristics, as regards hardiness, 

 vigor and productiveness of tree, and 

 quality, size and appearance of fruit: 

 Sow seeds of varieties having most of 

 the characteristics desired. 



4. If seedlings are to be grown on a 

 large scale, more varieties having the 

 characteristics desired will probably be 

 obtained if trees of several named sorts 

 blossoming at the same time be planted 

 in close proximity in the orchard, and 

 the seeds used from fruit borne on these 

 trees. The trees thus planted should 

 combine all the good points in the stand- 

 ard aimed at, for the variety to be orig- 

 inated. 



