104 



POMOLOGY 



connection must be considered the characteristics of certain 

 varieties, for it is well known that some heavy bearers are 

 not apparently injured by their large crops, and conversely 

 some light bearers never so utilize their energies as to produce 

 heavy yields. 



90. Fruit production exhaustive.^ — It is an exhaustive 

 process for plants to produce pollen and seeds. The more 

 the tree can be relieved of seed production and not sacrifice 

 the crop, the more it is helped to balance up its life processes, 

 namely: wood growth, crop production, fruit- and leaf-bud 

 formation, and the laying up of reserve materials. Green ^ 

 has shown that asparagus plants which fruit do not produce 

 as large 'Hips" for cutting in the spring as those that are 

 barren. While this is not entirely relevant, it illustrates 

 the principle involved : 



Table XVII 



ASPARAGUS.- 



-product from fifty plants each, male and female 

 (after green) 



"This shows a gain of the male over the female plants 

 of seventy-six per cent for the first period and a fraction 

 less than fifty per cent for the whole season. " 



1 Green, W. J. Bull. Ohio Agr. Exp. Sta. Vol. Ill, No. 9, 1890, 

 p. 242. 



