58 



PEODUCTION OF NEW VARIETIES. 



tie poUen dust is falling ; and on the right hand a pistil, the 

 knob on the top being the stigma, aid the i)Tal swelling at the 

 base the ovary. 



Q 



Fig. 43. 



The art of producing new varieties from seed 

 consists in taking the pollen of one variety of the 

 fruit and applying it to the stigma of the pistil ia the 

 flower of another variety. The mode of doing this 

 is very simple. When the flowers begin to open, 

 you will select a variety, say of apple, having certain 

 qualities which you wish to combine with the quali- 

 ties which are possessed by another variety of apple, 

 and so to have an apple which unites in itself the 

 several qualities which are now found separate, a part 

 of them in one apple and a part in another. As 

 soon as the flowers begin to expand, you will select 

 some of the flowers upon which to operate, and will 

 cut away the anthers, which are on the ends of the stamens, 

 before they burst open and let out their pollen. This can be 

 most easily done with a pair of small sharp-pointed scissors. As 

 the apple and pear usually prodtce their flowers in clusters, it 

 will be necessary to cut away aU the flowers except those from 

 which the janthers are clipped off; and after cutting away the 

 anthers, with a good magnifying glass examine the stigma to see 

 if there be any grain of pollen fallen upon it ; if there be, the 

 whole flower should be cut off. Tou wiU. procure poUen from 

 the tree of the other variety by carefully cutting off some of the 

 flowers whose anthers have recently burst and are covered with 

 pollen, and taking them with you to the flowers whose anthers 

 you have removed, you will apply the anther laden with pollen 

 to the stigma of these flowers. Sometimes the tree which bears 

 the poUen you wish to use comes into blossom some time before 

 the tree that you wish to use as the seed-producing parent. In 

 that case, the pollen can be shaken into a sheet of smooth writing 

 paper, and put into a small vial, closely corked up, and laid 

 away in a drawer, or other dark place, that is also dry and cool, 



