410 
calyx to stem, it is considered to have 
been pollinated by a Newtown, or if a 
Ben Davis has a similarly placed dark 
red band, that it was pollinated by a 
Baldwin. These suppositions must be 
held to be false and the effect attributed 
rather to bud variation. We have met 
with many instances of this sort and are 
forced to conclude that the pollen which 
was used had absolutely nothing to do 
with the color. Soil, the methods of 
pruning, fertilization, cultivation, irriga- 
tion and other orchard practices will in- 
fluence color, quality, etc., far more than 
will the pollen of neighboring varieties. 
As had been mentioned, the three great- 
est factors influenced by pollination, are 
size, percentage of set, and uniformity. 
Certain varieties of pollen may possibly 
produce, when applied to any given vari- 
ety, a smaller fruit than normal, and 
certain other varieties may produce a 
larger fruit than normal. One of the 
points that should be emphasized in this 
consideration is that cross-fertilized fruits 
generally produce more seeds than do 
those which are self-fertilized and furth- 
ermore the greater the number of seeds 
usually the greater the size and weight 
of the fruit itself. In fact, seed produc- 
tion seems to be the exciting cause of 
the growth of the flesh of the fruit. Of- 
ten in self-fertilized fruits, while the 
fruit will come to full maturity, it is 
not more than a fifth or quarter of the 
size of a cross-fertilized fruit and is gen- 
erally seedless. Cases of fruit production 
without pollination are recorded, but 
among the pomes at least, this condition 
must be considered exceptional. 
It may be well also to call attention to 
the fact that pears will not serve to polli- 
nate apples nor will apples pollinate 
pears, though the various species of 
apples will interpollinate and the same 
holds true for pears. Cherries, plums, or 
peaches also cannot be considered in any 
way to serve as pollenizers for either ap- 
ples or pears of any variety. 
The question then arises, what are the 
essentials of a good pollenizer. First of 
all we may say that the two varieties 
must bloom at the same time. That fact 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
is self-evident for if one variety is out of 
bloom before the other begins it may as 
well not be there so fai as furnishing 
pollen is concerned. Second, the two va- 
rieties must have an affinity for each 
other. That is to say, the pollen of one 
must be acceptable to the pistils of the 
other; and such as is going to give the 
best and most uniform fruits and great. 
est percentage of set. Third, both must 
be good pollen producers. If a shy polien 
bearer is planted with an abundant pollen 
bearer, the variety which produces little 
pollen will, of course, be greatly benefited, 
but there will be little reciprocal action, 
as is readily seen. Such an example would 
be the planting of the Winesap and Rome 
Beauty. The Winesap produces very lit- 
tle pollen, whereas the Rome Beauty pro- 
duces plenty. The former, therefore, 
would have an abundance of Rome Beauty 
pollen to fall back on, but the Rome 
Beauty would stand slight chance of be- 
ing crossed by the Winesap. Fourth, both 
varieties preferably should be commercial. 
This is simply, of course, a practical point 
in economics. Fifth, both varieties should 
come into flower at about the same age. 
For example, were the idea to pollinate 
the Wagener with Northern Spy, the re- 
sult would be that for several years the 
Wagener would be without a pollenizer, in 
that it comes into bearing much earlier 
than the Northern Spy. Such a discrep- 
ancy can be made up in a measure by the 
use as fillers, of dwarf trees of the late 
bearing variety. Such dwarfs will bear 
several years in advance of the standard 
and later can be readily removed. 
Careful experimentation has shown that 
very little, if any pollen of our tree fruits 
other than nut trees, is transported by 
the wind. Probably 99 per cent or more 
of the transfer of pollen is done by in- 
sects. Prime among these may be men- 
tioned the honey bee. Bumble bees, ants, 
flies, moths and short-tongued bees play 
an important part. However, there is no 
doubt but that the common hive bee is 
by far the best of all, and it will pay 
every orchardist to have a few stands 
among his trees. 
In putting out an orchard the system 
