The Practical Essentials of 

 Hand-Pollenizing 



THE essence of pollenizing is merely the transfer of 

 pollen from the stamen of one flower to the stigmatic 

 surface at the end or rarely at the side of the pistil of an- 

 other. This is the work that is ordinarily accomplished by 

 the insect. It is all that the plant experimenter accom- 

 plishes when he wishes to effect the crossing of different 

 plants of the same species or the wider crossings commonly 

 called hybridizing^ of different species. 



There is nothing occult in the practice of the bee or in 

 the imitation of his work as practiced by the hand of the 

 pollenizer. ^Miat is accomplished in each ca^e is the purely 

 mechanical transfer of a certain number of minute pollen 

 grains from one place to another. Beyond that^ everything 

 depends on the vital activities of the plant tissues them- 

 selves. Specific methods are necessary to effect cross- 

 pollenizing in the case of sundry types of flowers that have 

 developed blossoms curiously modified as to form or details 

 of structure. But the general processes of hand-poUenizing 

 as they apply to the chief flowers of the orchard and garden, 

 may be stated in a few words. 



The essential thing is to secure a certain quantity of 

 pollen^ usually by shaking it from the flower on a watoh 

 crystal or other small receptacle, and to transfer this pollen 

 to the receptive pistil of another flower either with the 

 finger tip — which furnishes in general the most useful piece 

 of apparatus — or with a camel's-hair brush. It is desirable 

 to cover the receptive portion (stigma) of the pistil fully 

 with pollen, partly to insure complete fertilization^ and 

 partly to prevent the vitiation of the experiment through 

 possible subsequent deposits of pollen from another source. 



If the flower to be fertilized has stamens of its own^ 

 these should be removed before they are fully ripe — which 

 is often a few hours or a day before the foreign pollen 

 should be applied. This removal of the stamens may usu- 

 ally be done with a pair of small pinchers. In case of 

 flowers that have short pistils— the cherry^ apple^ and other 

 orchard fruits being good examples — the unopened flower 



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