1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAm 



515 



any fields that are eultlvatpd, and is the the very easlst plant 

 I know of to destroy and stamp out of existence. 



If wanted for hay, cut sweet clover when first coinini? into 

 bloom ; a second cutting can be made, and still have fine f;ill 

 pasturage. Every animal we have eats it with a relish, from 

 the horse to the laying hen. Can any other clover boast a 

 better showing ? 



P. S. — M. firuensis Is the jlelA melilot, and M. parvifloni 

 (more correctly parvifoUa) Is the small leaved melilot. 



L. E. R. L. 



A Few Notes from California. 



BT PROF. A. J. COOK. 



Sage vs. White Cloveb. — I used to think that the white 

 clover honey was the very riKuintun bonum of delicious sweet- 

 ness; but I have just been sampling some sage honey, in im- 

 maculate one-pound combs, from Mr. Taylor's apiary, near 

 Perris, which seems to me to be a little the most exquisite in 

 flavor and appearance of any I have ever eaten. Mr. Taylor 

 was formerly a successful Michigan bee-keeper, who is now 

 one of our best honey-producers in California. I have askt 

 several to test this honey, and all with one accord have pro- 

 nounced it the best honey they have ever eaten. 



The Seasox.9 in California.— The honey season the 

 present year has not been on the whole quite equal to that of 

 two years ago. Mr. Taylor, of Riverside county, says his crop 

 falls quite decidedly below, in quantity, while in quality it is 

 unsurpast. The bee-keepers of Ventura county, on the whole, 

 have done as well as they did two years ago. One beekeeper 

 started with 4:25 colonies, which were increast to 515, and 

 secured over 24 tons of extracted honey. Another started 

 with 800 colonies, and secured over 50 tons of honey. One 

 apiarist with 150 colonies secured seven tons, and still 

 another with 160 colonies extracted over nine tons. This 

 gives about the general range in Ventura, Santa Barbara, 

 and northern Los Angeles counties. 



The Be°-Keepers' Exchange has made a good start. A 

 goodly number of beekeepers, including some of the very best, 

 have joined its membership. It is to be regretted that more — 

 yea, all — do not join its ranks. While all, as is also true with 

 the Citrus Fruit Exchange, believe it a good thing, and a 

 move in the right direction, yet many, hoping to receive the 

 benefit, and to do better on the outside, refuse to become 

 members. This seems a selfish policy, and we are sure it is a 

 mistaken one. The Exchange has demonstrated this season 

 that it can save its members a large per cent, in their pur- 

 chases. We hope it will be equally happy in proving its value 

 in making sales. We understand that the Exchange has ar- 

 ranged to advance money on honey as soon as it is in the 

 warehouse. If this be so, it removes one of the most reason- 

 able objections heretofore made to the organization — the poor 

 people must have money on their crop before it is marketed, 

 or possibly before it is all produced. We believe that all our 

 agricultural industries will fail of their best accomplishment 

 until full and complete co-operation Is accomplisht. 



Los Angeles Co., Calif., Aug. 4. 



Influence of Pollen upon Size, Form, Color and 

 Flavor of Fruits. 



B1 PROF. J. C. WHITTEN. 



{Read before the Miasouri State Horticultural Hociely.) 



[Continued from page 502.1 



In his extensive work, "Cross and Self Fertilization in the 

 Vegetable Kingdom," Darwin conclusively proves the value of 

 cross-fertilization in plants. Giving years of patient, untiring 



labor to the work, he carried on a series of experiments in 

 both self and cross fertilization, in morning-glories, petunias 

 and other plants, for a number of generations. Uo found, that, 

 where continued self-fertilization was practiced, the plants dl- 

 minisht in size, vigor, and productiveness, with each genera- 

 tion, and that a single cross of these seedlings, with another 

 strain, greatly improved them. He also cross-fertilized a great 

 many flowers, saving the seeds and again crossing the seed- 

 lings grown from them. These experiments were carried 

 through many generations, with difl'erent kinds of plants. He 

 found that cross-fertilized flowers produced much larger, 

 heavier and more vigorous seeds, and that the seedlingsgrown 

 from them were correspondingly stronger and more fruitful. 

 The most important conclusion, resulting from Darwin's ex- 

 tensive studies along this line, during which he carefully com- 

 pared his own observations with those of other investigators, 

 is exprest in one of his own seutences — "Nature thus tells us. 

 in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors perpetual self- 

 fertilization," which is found in his work on " Various Contri- 

 vances by which British and E'oreign Orchids are Fertilized by 

 Insects." 



Experiments are ample to prove to us, that cross-fertiliza- 

 tion between niants of the same species is beneficial. Through 

 laws of adaption and selection, the stronger, cross-fertilized 

 plants would naturally enough crowd out and supplant the 

 weaker self-fertilized ones. It is not surprising, then, to find 

 that most of our flowering plants are actually constructed to 

 bring about this result, nature having so modified their flowers 

 as to render self-fertilization the exception rather than the 

 rule. In many flowers the pollen and the pistils are not ready 

 for fertilization at the same time, hence such flowers are de- 

 pendent upon pollen from an earlier or a later flower. Fre- 

 quently the pistil is longer than the stamens and reaches above 

 them, out of reach of their pollen. In other cases the stamens 

 and pistils are borne on separate plants as is the case in some 

 of our cultivated strawberries. In such cases cross-fertiliza- 

 tion must always be the result. Sometimes the pollen of a 

 certain plant is entirely impotent upon the pistils of that 

 plant. Many of our wild plums are of this class. Frequent 

 instances are cited where plum trees, producing an abundance 

 of pollen, failed to set fruit until a tree of another variety was 

 set among them, when they produced abundantly through the 

 perfect potency of the new supply of pollen. 



Certain plants are dependent upon one or more species of 

 insects for the fertilization of its flowers. Our native yuccas 

 being dependent upon a single species of moth, to perform this 

 function, is a most remarkable example. A complete account 

 of the life history of this insect, and its remarkable habits in 

 securing the fertilization of the yuccas may be found in the 

 reports of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 



For a long time it has been well known that the fig 

 is dependent upon a certain fly for its perfect fertilization and 

 that, when the pollen is carried from flower to flower, by the 

 insect, the fruit is much larger and of more delicious flavor, 

 than when the flowers are fertilized through any other agency. 



The Department of Agriculture has publisht a most inter- 

 esting and instructive bulletin upon the pollination of pear 

 flowers. After ample, careful, experiments in cross and self- 

 fertilization of different varieties of pears, the following 

 among other conclusions were reacht: 



" Many of the common varieties of pears require cross- 

 pollination, being partially or wholly incapable of setting fruit 

 when limited to their own pollen. Some varieties are capable 

 of self-fertilization. 



"Cross-pollination is not accomplisht by applying pollen 

 from another tree of the same grafted variety, but is secured 

 by using pollen from a tree of a distinct horticultural variety. 



"The impotency of the pollen is not due to any deficiency 

 of its own, but to a lack of affinity between the pollen and the 

 ovules of the same variety. 



"The pollen of two varieties may be absolutely self-sterile, 

 and at the same time perfectly cross-fertile. 



" Pears produced by self-fertilization are very uniform In 

 shape. They differ from crosses not only in size and shape, 

 but also, in some cases, in the time of maturity and flavor. 



" Self-fecundated pears are deficient in seeds; crosses are 

 well supplied with sound seeds. Even with those varieties 

 which are capable of self-fecundation the pollen of another 

 variety is prepotent. 



"The normal, typical fruits and finest specimens, either 

 of self-fertile or self-sterile sorts, are crosses." 



Cultivators of strawberries express a preference for cer- 

 tain varieties of pollinators of the various pistillate sorts. 

 This preference is founded upon the fact that the pollen of 

 some staminate varieties is prepotent, as compared with that 

 of certain other varieties which flower at the same time. It is 

 a commonly noted fact that most piltillate varieties produce 



