RATIONAL FRUIT CULTURE. 17 



Superb, and Swan, to which Victoria should certainly be added, 

 though it does not seem to have been included in the experi- 

 ments. 



WHY SELF-FERTILE VARIETIES SHOULD BE PLANTED. 



Every fruit-grower should carefully note the second list, 

 containing the names of the more or less self-fertile varieties. 

 For if only a single variety is to be grown, the selection should 

 be made from it. Even if a number of different varieties are 

 to be associated, some from the list should be included, be- 

 cause their pollen was found to have a remarkable effect on 

 the self-sterile varieties. For instance, by fertilising the 

 Apples — Charles Eoss and EckUnville Seedling — with the 

 pollen of King's Acre Bountiful, the crops obtained from them 

 were increased 400 per cent.; the crops of the Pears, Clapp's 

 Favourite and Marie Louise, were enormously improved by 

 means of the pollen of Louise Bonne of Jersey; and so were 

 the crops of the Gages by means of the pollen of Denniston's 

 Superb, though even then they were not so prolific as most 

 other Plums. Hence it is important to select self^rtile varie- 

 ties, not only that they may bear well themselves, but also 

 that they may influence other varieties growing round them. 



