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Pollination of Fruits. 



[May, 



POLLINATION OF FRUITS. 



Cecil H. Hooper, M.E.A.C., 

 Librarian, South Eastern Agricultural College, Wye, Kent. 



In choosing land for fruit planting, there are several factors 

 to be considered, such as distance from market, climate, aspect, 

 and protection from frost by careful selection of site. The next 

 point is the kind of fruit to be planted, after which comes the 

 choice of varieties suitable for the district. The prospective 

 planter is advised to limit the number of varieties he plants to, 

 say, six varieties of each kind of fruit tree grown, in order 

 to be able to send considerable quantities of each variety to 

 market. 



Growers have sometimes planted a single variety alone by 

 the acre (for example, Lane's Prince Albert Apple, Pitmaston 

 Duchess Pear, River's Early Prolific Plum, or Early Eiver's 

 Cherry), with the result that, although it has grown strongly 

 and flowered profusely, it does not fruit satisfactorily. The 

 reason for this is that, in Nature, each apple, pear, plum or 

 cherry tree springs from a separate seed ; each tree is a distinct 

 individual. The nurseryman or fruit grower compares the fruit 

 of the different trees and selects those which produce the 

 best fruit. Experience has taught him that the majority of 

 trees grown from seed are not quite like their parents : in most 

 cases their fruits are inferior to those of the parent. He 

 therefore takes shoots of the selected tree and propagates the 

 variety by grafting or budding on suitable stocks. Now each of 

 these trees is part of the original tree : each bears similar fruit 

 and has similar habits. 



Nature in general favours cross-pollination for the production 

 of good-sized fruit and seed of vigorous growth, but in the case 

 under consideration each tree is similar, being of the same 

 origin and not grown fresh from seed according to Nature's 

 plan. Pollination by the same variety is, therefore, a form of 

 self-pollination, and does not give the best result in the 

 majority of cases. 



Practical botanists in England, America and Australia, who 

 have made experiments on the fruiting of the apple, pear, plum 

 and cherry, find that relatively few varieties are strongly self- 

 fruitful. Of apples, less than one -half of the varieties appear 

 to be self-fruitful ; of pears, about one-half; of plums, about 



