24 The Rural Library. 



and was even not injured by ten degrees of frost. All this was an acquisi- 

 tion, and as the squash was handsome and exceedingly productive, nothing 

 more seemed to be desired. But it still remained to have a squash for din- 

 ner. The cook complained of the hard shell, but once inside, the flesh was 

 thick and attractive and it cooked nicely. But the flavor ! Dregs of quinine, 

 gall and boneset ! The gourd. was still there ! 



We have now seen that uncertainty follows hybridization, and in closing 

 I will say that uncertainty also attaches to the mere act of pollination. Be- 

 tween some species, which are closely allied and which have large and strong 

 flowers, four-fifths of the attempts towards cross-pollination may be success- 

 ful, but such a large proportion of successes is not common, and it may be 

 infrequent even in pollinations between plants of the same species or variety. 

 Some of the failure is due in many cases to unskillful operations, but even the 

 most expert operators fail as often as they succeed, in promiscuous pollinating. 

 There is good reason to believe, as Darwin has shown, that the failure may 

 be due to some selective power of individual plants, by which they refuse 

 pollen which in many instances is acceptable to other plants, even of the 

 same variety or stock. The lesson to be drawn from these facts is that opera- 

 tions should be as many as possible and that discouragement should not come 

 of failure. In order to illustrate the varying fortunes of the pollinator, 



1 will transcribe some notes from rriy field-book : 



Two hundred and thirty-four pollinations of gourds, pumpkins and 

 squashes, mostly between varieties of one species (Cucurbita Pej>6) and in- 

 cluding some individual pollinations, gave' 117 failures and 117 successes. 

 These crosses were made in varying weather, from July 28 to August 30. In 

 some periods nearly all the operations would succeed, and at other times 

 most of them would fail. I have always regarded these experiments as 

 among my most successful ones, and yet but half of the pollinations " took." 

 But you must not understand that I actually secured seeds from even all 

 these 117 fruits, for some of them turned out to be seedless, and some were 

 destroyed by insects before they were ripe, or were lost by accidental means. 

 A few more than half of the successful pollinations — if by success we mean 

 the formation and growth of fruit — really secured us seeds, or about one- 

 fourth of the whole number of efforts. 



Twenty pollinations were made between tomato-flowers, and they all failed ; 

 also 7 pollinations of red-peppers, 4 of husk-tomato, 2 of Nicotiana affinis 

 upon petunia and 2 of the reciprocal cross, 12 of radish, 1 of Mirabilis 

 Jalafa upon M. longiflora and two of the reciprocal cross, 3 Convolvulus 

 ■major upon ~C . minor and one of the reciprocal, 1 muskmelon by squash, 



2 muskmelon by watermelon and one muskmelon by cucumber. 

 This is but one record. Now let me give you another : 



