408 
ment of clarifying, carbonating, and heat- 
ing. 
See Cider. 
H. C. Gore. 
Of the Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, D. C. 
THE POLLINATION QUESTION 
Every practical orchardist has now 
come to realize, or if he has not, he 
should, that one of the most important 
phases of orcharding is the problem of 
pollination. It must be considered in se- 
lecting any variety for planting. The 
question has been one of scientific interest 
for many years and unfortunately con- 
siderable has been written on this sub- 
ject before definite information was at 
hand, with the result that many of the 
recommendations of today must be con- 
sidered without foundation. 
Too many times one is prone to consider 
that any lack in the setting of fruit is 
purely and wholly due to the absence of 
proper pollination. As a matter of fact 
there are many causes other than pollina- 
tion which must be taken into account. 
Among the first of these we may mention 
the inability of certain varieties to set 
fruit, or of certain spurs on the tree to 
mature fruit from the blossoms which oc- 
cur on them in the spring. To drop their 
fruit seems to be as much a character of 
certain varieties as is the color, flavor, or 
any other character of the variety. From 
carefully conducted experiments we must 
conclude that by no means is all the 
spring and June drop to be attributed to 
lack of pollination. 
Another one of the important causes of 
dropping of blossoms is the vegetative 
vigor of the trees. If a tree is growing too 
vigorously it frequently runs entirely to 
wood and scarcely produces any blossoms, 
and the few that it may produce are 
usually shed very soon after the bloom- 
ing period is past. The same may be said 
of trees which are in a very poor condi- 
tion. While the latter may bloom more 
profusely than those which are growing 
vigorously, some blossoms are as incapable 
of setting fruit as are those on the former. 
Insects and diseases also frequently 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
cause the loss of many blooms Some are 
destroyed outright by the various diseases, 
such as scab, anthracnose, or blight ang 
in the case of peaches and plums by the 
brown rot fungus. Many blossoms may be 
ruined when quite young by attacks of 
insects. Even some of the blossoms which 
may be set are later killed by these same 
causes before they have made any consid- 
erable size and are frequently shed at the 
time of the so-called June drop 
It is almost too well known to need 
mentioning that rain or snow during the 
blooming’ period is the cause of fallure 
of many blossoms. This loss is due to the 
fact that much of the pollen is destroyed 
by rain and the stigmas of the blossoms 
are injured to such a degree that pol- 
lination and consequent fertilization is 
impossible. Of course no fruit is produced 
under such conditions. In this connec- 
tion, however, it may be well to mention 
the fact that usually all the blossoms do 
not come on at the same time and enough 
may meet with favorable conditions to 
produce a fair crop. 
One of the most serious climatic condi- 
tions with which we must contend is 
frost. Injury from this cause is brought 
about in two ways: first, by winter freezes 
and second, by spring frosts In the form- 
er instance the fruit buds are either killed 
outright during the winter, or are injured 
only to the extent that they are inca- 
pable of producing fruit. That is, the 
flowers expand and without careful in- 
spection appear normal, but on closer ex- 
amination it is usually found that the pis- 
tils or heart of the very young fruit has 
been killed. Injury from late spring 
frosts is manifested in various ways. The 
young fruit is subject to injury from the 
time the fruit buds have opened until 
the time the fruit is as large as a garden 
pea or even later. If the frost is very 
severe the young fruit is generally killed 
outright as is recognized by a very notice- 
able blackening a few hours after the 
frost. In certain instances, generally af- 
ter pollination has occurred, a light or 
medium frost does not entirely kill the 
blossom but seems to allow a certain de- 
gree of development. Usually in such in- 
