io8 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



I think that about the same conclusion has been arrived at, 

 or soon will be, in regard to pears and plums. The safest 

 way is to plant different varieties near together, so that their 

 pollen will intermingle. 



In the case of varieties that have no pollen, or are 

 impotent to fertilize themselves, it is plainly necessary 

 either to drop these varieties, — and they are often the best 

 we have — or to supply them with pollen by planting other 

 potent varieties near them. 



There are some varieties and some families of fruit that 

 seem to have proved that they need no attention of this 

 sort. Of these I would name the raspberries, the blackber- 

 ries, the whole family of peaches and the Baldwin apple, 

 all of which can be expected to be fruitful if planted singly 

 with no other kinds near them. 



But, you may say, we have varieties that produce pollen, 

 and we have the varieties mixed in the orchard ; why, then, 

 are our orchards so often barren ? Why are our strawberries 

 frequently shriveled and knotty ? 



There are five cells in an apple, each of which should 

 contain two seeds. Unless pollen falls on each of these five 

 cells the apple is not perfect ; it either grows lopsided or 

 blasts. The part that is pollenized grows faster than the 

 part that is not. 



The strawberry has man}' more cells or seeds than the 

 apple, and each needs a dusting of pollen. The pollen is a 

 fine, delicate dust, and its virtue or power is apparently 

 greatly diminished by cold. So when a frost just precedes 

 the blossoming of the strawberry, as it did in the spring of 

 1898, it kills some of the embryo fruit outright, and pre- 

 vents the complete pollination of the rest, so that it is small, 

 one-sided, dry and knotty. We rarely have frosts when 

 pears and apples are ready to bloom, but we frequently do 

 have cold winds or cold rain, and from the days of our 

 fathers and grandfathers until now, whenever these condi- 

 tions prevailed for two or three days in blossoming time, 

 it was expected, and usually proved true, that pollination 

 was more or less imperfect, according to the severity of the 

 weather. 



The conditions of weather most desirable during pollina- 



