AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



49 



furnished by the variety used as a fertilizer, — a point which Is of 

 great moment if the same law holds under natural conditions. 

 That there may be some doubt of this, however, is i^nclicated by 

 the fact that certain so-called pistillate varieties — notably the 

 Crescent — at times mature " fruit" and apparently perfect seeds 

 in the absence of any perfect flowering variety. One grower of 

 my acquaintance uses no perfect flowering variety, and succeeds 

 admirably. I have never seen these plants, but it is well known 

 that the pistillate varieties frequently produce plants having par- 

 tially developed stamens, and it is probable that by unconscious 

 selection, plants of this character have been increased to a consid- 

 erable extent. In any case, the amount of pollen is necessarily 

 quite limited. 



That the amount of pollen used may have an important bearing 

 in determining the form and size of the fruit is certain. This fact, 

 which is of special importance to the horticulturist, is shown by 

 our work with tomatoes. In the winter of 1890-91, while crossing 

 tomatoes, two stigmas in the same cluster of flowers were given 

 different amounts of pollen. The first was given a very small 

 amount — 10 to 20 grains — on one side of the stigma ; the other 



Fig. 10. Different Amounts of Pollen. 



