APPLES 
stances the seeds are killed and there is 
little or no development of them, though 
there maj be some. Usually such fruit 
develops somewhat abnormally, frequently 
producing in pears what is described as 
‘pull-neck.” Such fruit will usually hang 
on the trees up to the time they are 
ready to make the last swell before pick- 
ing time, then they will drop in quan- 
tities Often if not too badly injured 
they will develop sufficient size to be mar- 
ketable 
Another cause of the shedding of some 
fruit, though probably in general of an 
inconsiderable quantity, is the spraying 
of trees when in full bloom. Careful ex- 
periments conducted along this line by 
several experimenters have demonstrated 
that when the trees were thoroughly 
sprayed before the blossoms had been pol- 
linated they failed to set fruit Usually, 
however, if two or three days have 
elapsed after pollination and before the 
spraying, such fruits will set perfectly. 
Furthermore, on most varieties the blos- 
soms open at intervals for several davs 
and one spraying would not be likely to 
injure all the blossoms in any one clust- 
er. 
It will be seen from the foregoing and 
as pointed out above that we must take 
into consideration several factors other 
than pollination when we are looking 
for the cause of failure of blossoms to 
set. However, we think it is safe to 
say that all varieties of pome fruits, at 
least apples and pears, even though the 
varieties are termed self-fertile, are bene- 
fited by having other varieties planted 
with them as pollenizers. By the term 
self-fertile variety we mean one which is 
capable of setting perfect fruit without 
the aid of pollen from another variety. 
By self-sterile we mean that a variety is 
not capable of setting fruit without some 
other variety being planted with it to 
furnish pollen. One frequently meets 
with the term partially self-fertile, or 
partially self-sterile. By this is meant 
that under certain conditions a limited 
number of fruits will set. By far the 
greater number of our varieties must 
be classed in the self-sterile or partially 
409 
velf-sterlle list and as above pointed out 
it 18 always best to plant two or more 
varieties together. However, we must 
guard against planting too many vari- 
eties One variets as a pollenizer for 
another will seive every purpose that 
twenty would Thus an orchard of Bart- 
letts and d’Anjous would serve to pol- 
linate each othe: as well as if we plant- 
ed among them a dozen or more vari- 
eties. In the past one of the greatest 
difficulties has been that the orchardists 
have gone on the supposition that if a 
little is good, more will be better and 
some have planted all the way from fif- 
teen to twenty varieties, many of them 
worthless, merely for the sake of secur- 
ing cross-pollination. This is a mistaken 
idea and one that should be guarded 
against. Of couise, if one wishes to grow 
a number of varieties for other reasons 
there can be no objection from a pollina- 
tion standpoint but otherwise it 1s to be 
avoided. 
The main point that must be taken in- 
to consideration in the study of the pol- 
lination problem is the so-called second- 
ary effect of pollen. By this we mean the 
effect let us say, of Spitzenburg pollen on 
a Newton apple in the immediate cross. 
Much has been written for and against 
the use of certain pollenizers and we 
believe that we must conclude that in 
general there is very little effect other 
than a change in size of the fruit, in- 
crease in percentage of set, and uniform- 
ity of crop. Flavor, quality, keeping 
quality and color are probably not affect- 
ed in the least. 
This subject has been discussed from 
the earliest times, ever since the pollin- 
ation problem has begun to be investi- 
gated, but from carefully conducted ex- 
periments the last several years we be- 
lieve that we must conclude that if other 
noticeable effects are manifested they 
are exceptionally rare indeed. The same 
conclusions have been reached by other 
very careful workers along this line. Too 
much credence has been placed in spo- 
radic instances of apparent effect. Thus 
we frequently hear that if a Spitzenburg 
apple has a bright yellow band from 
