15* FIELD, FOREST AND FARM 



however, we wish any selected blossoms to fructify 

 in spite of their gauze prison and the suppression 

 of the staminate blossoms, we take a small camel's 

 hair brush and gather a little pollen which we put on 

 the stigma. That is enough, the pumpkin will come. 

 "The absolute necessity of pollen for the forma- 

 tion of fruit explains to us the harmful effect of 

 violent winds and prolonged rains in blossoming 

 time. Swept away by blasts of wind, or washed 

 away by rains, or simply spoiled by long-continued 

 moisture, the dust of the stamens no longer acts on 

 the ovaries, and the flowers fall without fructifying. 

 This ruin of the harvest from lack of pollen is known 

 as blight." 



