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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Eeb. 1. 



Before giving the new facts that have come 

 to light on this subject I must tell how it came 

 about. 



Many years ago, down in Virginia, a farmer 

 planted out a large pear-orchard. As he was 

 a bright man he thought he would make a 

 very profitable investment, and not plant any 

 unproductive trees. As Bartlett pear-trees are 

 almost universally known as the most produc- 

 tive as well as profitable, he planted his en- 

 tire orchard of this variety. He cultivated 

 his orchard with great care, fertilizers were 

 applied, and when he looked for fruit he 

 found " nothing but leaves." But he kept on 

 until his means were exhausted and his place 

 went under a mortgage. The new owner 

 thought he had a bonanza in that pear-orchard, 

 and he too cared for it until his ability to do 

 so failed, when it passed into the hands of an- 

 other person ; but still it failed to yield a crop 

 of fruit. I take it that the last owner had 

 some faith in "book farming," for he sent to 

 the Department of Agriculture at Washington 

 for a solution of the problem of an unproduc- 

 tive orchard of Bartlett pears. Mr. M. B. 

 Waite, of the Department, was sent down to 

 study the subject on the ground. He guessed 

 the trouble to be the lack of cross-pollina- 

 tion with other varieties, and, fortunately, he 

 guessed right. More or less of the orchard 

 was grafted with other varieties ; but before it 

 came into profitable bearing it was struck with 

 "blight," and ruined. But it had served a 

 useful purpose. A new interest was taken in 

 the subject of the effects of self and cross pol- 

 lination of fruit-blossoms, and the scientific 

 study of the subject began. This was carried 

 out by taking pear and apple blossoms just be- 

 fore they open, and removing a part of the 

 blossom and then applying either pollen of 

 the same variety or some other variety, and 

 covering at once to prevent insects from inter- 

 fering. In this way it could be told whether 

 a given variety would prove fertile with its 

 own pollen or not, and just the effects of 

 crossing with other varieties. 



As a result of these studies Mr. Waite says, 

 "Many of the common varieties of pears re- 

 quire cross - pollination, being partially or 

 wholly incapable of setting fruit when limited 

 to their own pollen. Some varieties are capa- 

 ble of self-fertilization. Self-pollination takes 

 place, no matter whether foreign pollen is 

 present or not. The failure to fruit with self- 

 pollination is due to sterility of the pollen, 

 and not to mechanical causes, the impotency 

 being due to lack of afl[inity between the pol- 

 len and ovules of the same variety." 



' ' Varieties that are absolutely self-sterile 

 may be perfectly cross- fertile. The normal 

 typical fruits, and in most cases the largest 

 and finest specimens from both the so-called 

 " self-sterile" and " self-fertile " varieties, are 

 crosses." 



" Self-fecundated pears are deficient in seed, 

 and the seeds produced are usually abortive. 

 The crosses are well supplied with sound 

 seeds." 



He gathered most of the cross and self pol- 

 linated fruits resulting from most of his ex- 

 periments for study and comparison, and 



found, as a rule, a decidedly better develop- 

 ment of the blossom end of the fruits of those 

 cross-pollinated than those self - pollinated. 

 He found, also, a disposition or tendency in 

 self-pollinated late varieties of pears to with- 

 er before ripening, while those resulting from 

 crosses ripened perfectly. My son has offer- 

 ed to copy several of Mr. Waite's illustrations. 



Fig. 1 shows a Bartlett pear crossed with 

 pollen of Easter pear. No. 2 shows a self-pol- 

 linated Bartlett pear. No. 3 shows seeds under 

 (7 from cross- pollinated Bartlett pears ; under 

 b, seeds from self-pollinated pears. 



About three-fifths of the varieties of pears 

 experimented upon appear to have been whol- 

 ly self-sterile, or were greatly benefited by 

 cross-pollination. 



Even with those varieties capable of self- 

 fecundation, the pollen of another variety is 

 prepotent (more powerful) ; and unless the 

 entrance of foreign pollen is prevented, the 

 greater number of fruits will be effected with 

 it. 



As apples blossom soon after pears, a large 

 amount of work was done with them to ascer- 

 tain the effects of self and cross fertilization. 

 He says, " In a general way the results were 

 similar to those obtained in the experiments 

 with pears. The division of the varieties into 

 self-sterile and self-fertile sorts was not nearly 

 so well marked. 



" Crossing gave decidedly better results in 

 all cases than self-pollination. The Baldwin, 

 which was experimented upon freely, may be 

 cited as a variety that comes as near being 

 self-fertile as any, and yet even this is far from 

 being entirely so ; for in the best trees the 

 percentage of fruit resulting from self-pollina- 

 tion was not more than a fourth of that which 

 resulted from crossing. Some of the Baldwin 

 trees, in fact, seemed to be self-sterile, and all 

 the varieties occasionally set self-pollinated 

 fruit." 



He does not seem inclined to place much 

 confidence in a strict classification, even of 

 pears, as a variety may be quite self-sterile in 

 one section, as in the North, and yet be quite 

 self-fertile in the South or in some other sea- 

 son. 



Among the sorts of pears he found more or 

 less completely self-sterile are the Bartlett, 

 Anjou, Boussock, Clairgeau, Clapp's Favorite, 

 Sheldon, Louisa Bonne de Jersey, and other 

 common varieties. Still less would it be pos- 

 sible to classify apples. A variety may be 

 self -fertile this year and quite the reverse next 

 year, or in one section of country and not in 

 another. The weather at blooming time is 

 important. He says, "The weather during 

 the blooming period exerts both a direct and 

 indirect influence on the setting of fruit. 

 Even when not injured by frosts, the blossoms 

 are often chilled by the cold to such an extent 

 as to interfere with fecundation. Moderate 

 cold renders the self-fertile trees self-sterile, 

 and severe cold renders them sterile to cross- 

 pollination as well. Warm and sunny weath- 

 er at this time indirectly aids the fertilization 

 by favoring insects in their work of cross-pol- 

 lination." 



The results of self-pollination in apples are 



