157 



planting one tree to, say, eight of a dif- 

 ferent variety. Thus, for example, Blen- 

 heim Orange and Ne\vton Wonder apples 

 crop well together planted in the same 

 orchard in Worcestershire; Cox's Orange 

 and Worcester Pearmain in the same plan- 

 tation in Hertfordshire. For shy-bearing 

 plums, as Pond's Seedling, Coe's Golden 

 Drop, and some of the greengages, it 

 seems advantageous to have several dif- 

 ferent varieties in the plantation for cross- 

 pollination; but commercial growers would 

 say do not plant these varieties at all for 

 fear they do not bear or bear irregularly. 



BbUSU POLLIXATING AN EMASCULATED ApPLE 



Blossom. 



From experiments at the John Innes 

 Horticultural Institute at Merton, Surrey, 

 and my own trials the most self-fertile 

 plums seem to be the Pershore Yellow 

 Egg plum, Victoria, Denniston's Superb, 

 Pershore Purple Egg, Czar, Golden Trans- 

 parent, Monarch, and Yellow Magnum 

 Bonum ; but each of these — except, per- 

 haps, the Pershore Yellow Egg and the 

 Pershore Purple — mature better crops if 

 interplanted with other varieties. 



In cherries, the Morello is the only very 

 self-fertile variety and the only one that 

 needs to have no other variety planted 

 with it. Flemish Red is somewhat self- 

 fertile. In planting Early Rivers cherry — 

 one of the best market varieties — it is 

 specially important to interplant one or 

 more early-flowering varieties. Mr. G. P. 

 Berry, Chief Inspector of Horticulture to 

 the Ministry of Agriculture, found that an 



orchard where Amber Bigarreau had been 

 planted alone was almost fruitless year by 

 year, whereas in another orchard, in 

 which the variety was planted with Frog- 

 more Prolific, both varieties fruited well. 



Apparatus Used in Pollinating Experiments. 



1. Box to carry flowers with pollen. 2. Paper 

 bag. 3. Forceps, scissors, camel's-hair brush, 

 comb. 4. Methylated spirits. 5. Magnify- 

 ing glass. 6. Bottle with pollen. 7. Labels. 

 8. Needle in handle. 9. Spoon. 10. Muslin 

 bag. 11. Box to carry all apparatus. 



In cherries, particularly it would seem 

 wise to have several varieties in the same 

 orchard and to keep bees. 



The order of flowering, and also experi- 

 ments on self-fertility on apples and 

 pears, have been recorded at the Royal 

 Horticultural Society's gardens at Wisley 

 by Mr. Fred Chittenden, F.L.S. 



In pears it would be unwise to plant any 

 single variety in block, especially certain 

 varieties. Conference is apparently the 

 most self-fertile pear ; Hessle is appa- 

 rently considerably self-fertile in Here- 



