PRACTICAL POLLENATION 



egg-case at its base — are the organs that claim 

 exclusive attention. 



Hand Pollenizing 



The essence of pollenizing is merely the 

 transfer of pollen from the stamen of one flower 

 to the stigmatic surface at the end of the pistil 

 of another. 



This is the work that is ordinarily accomplished 

 by the insect. It is all that the plant experimenter 

 accomplishes when he wishes to effect the crossing 

 of different plants of the same species or the 

 wider crossing, commonly called hybridizing, of 

 different species. 



There is nothing occult in the practice of the 

 bee or in the imitation of his work as practiced 

 by the hand of the poUenizer. 



What is accomplished in each case is the 

 purely mechanical transfer of a certain number 

 of minute pollen grains from one place to another. 

 Beyond that, everything depends on the vital 

 activities of the plant tissues themselves. 



We shall have occasion in another chapter to 

 deal somewhat at length with specific methods 

 that are necessary to effect cross-poUenizing in the 

 case of sundry types of flowers that have devel- 

 oped blossoms curiously modified as to form or 

 details of structure. But the general processes of 

 hand pollenizing, as they apply to the chief 



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