IlirFLUElirCE OB POLLBir. 119 



plants, and the results, in a majority of instances, have 

 shown that its influence always extends beyond the ovule, 

 but its effect is far from being uniform in producing 

 pronounced changes in the color, form of the fruit, or 

 pericarpic organs. This is not at all strange, inasmuch 

 as the plants bearing the fertilized flowers also supply 

 the entire nutriment necessary for their support and 

 development, hence, would naturally have a much 

 greater influence on the growth of the seed-vessel than 

 any likely to be conveyed in a few grains of pollen. 

 Still, the influence of the pollen on the female organs is 

 readily discernible, and through these it must necessarily 

 affect, to. a greater or less extent, all parts of the plant 

 that respond to the demand for nutrients to the seed 

 and surrounding organs. We can readily see the effect 

 of fertilization, and often mere pollination, in plants by 

 the rapid swelling and growth of the pericarpic organs — 

 the fruit stalks and their various appendages — and even 

 trace it down to the very roots of such plants as the 

 Strawberry and other herbaceous kinds. 



Pollen is not a simple substance, but a compound, and 

 while its principal office is to convey to the female cells 

 fertilizing materials, it may also carry elements of health 

 or disease, as well as those that are or may become heredi- 

 tary characteristics of its race. In the animal kingdom 

 we have an exact parallel case, for, leaving out all mental 

 impressions, the male parent contributes no more 

 towards the production of the offspring in proportion to 

 size, and we doubt if as much, as does the male in the 

 vegetable kingdom. Still, no breeder of choice stock 

 would . willingly permit the contamination or adultera- 

 ation of the blood of the female by a scrub animal, or 

 even one out of the direct line of the pure breed. It is 

 an old saying that "there is a black sheep in almost 

 every flock, " but there are probably few persons who 

 know the full significance of this phrase when applied to 



