74 



THE POLLINATION OF PEAR FLOWERS. 



ripeuiiig thau the crosses, lu the early varieties tliis difference was 

 sliglit, but iu the late varieties^ which seem to need every encouragemeut 

 for proper maturity, it made all the difference in some cases between a 

 good pear and a poor one. With the Anjou, however, which is a rather 

 late variety, the crosses were scarcely equal to the self-pollinated fruits 

 in flavor. In the self- pollinated there was a tendency to be smaller. 

 Their average size was less, although many individuals compared favor- 

 ably with the crosses. The largest fruits, however, were always crosses. 

 The vegetative condition of the tree, the vigor of the particular 

 branch, and the number of fruits it bears decides largely the size of the 

 fruit. A self- pollinated fruit favorably situated may ^row to be larger 

 than a cross on the same tree less favored, Avhile on the other hand a 

 cross under the same conditions would exceed the self pollinated pear. 

 To obtain the maximum fruits iu both cases the conditions should be 

 favorable. If a fruit develops at all on a good limb with an abundance 

 of fine foliage and few competitors it is forced to grow of fair size 

 whether crossed or not. Oross-pollination may be regarded, with 

 vegetative vigor of the tree, as one of the factors in the production of 

 fine fruits. 



In the number of sound seeds the difference between the cross and 

 self-pollinated fruits was most remarkable. Many of the varieties were 

 entirely seedless when self-pollinated and the rest were nearly so. Fruits 

 from the same tree cross pollinated or exposed to insect visits were 

 well supplied with sound seeds. The external characters of cross- 

 pollinated and self-pollinated fruits, along Avith the seed charac- 

 ters, enable one to judge fairly well as to which class a given fruit 

 belongs. In variety orchards examination of fruits produced from flow- 

 ers exposed to insect visits, led to the conclusion that the ordinary 

 typical fruits were crosses. The figures and descrii)tions of Downing,* 

 Thomas,t and others agree with the crosses and not with self-pollinated 

 fruits. Apparently here is the point where investigators of this subject, 

 from the time of Knight down to the present day, have gone astray. 

 They have compared fruits cross-pollinated by hand with those on the 

 same tree cross-pollinated by insects, and of course found no difference. 

 The insects may have carried pollen from the very same tree that the 

 exi)erimenter did. The ordinary fruits seem to have been looked on as 

 pollinated with their own pollen, or at least insect crosses were regarded 

 as accidental and of infrequent occurrence. So the real point in the 

 matter, the difference between self-pollinated and crossed fruits, was not 

 hit upon. 



In comparing one cross with another it may still be regarded as doubt- 

 ful whether any important differences occur. There seemed to be, however, 

 constant differences between the Bartlett fruits crossed with different 

 kinds of pollen. If these distinctions can be confirmed by future experi- 

 ments, a question of considerable practical importance will be settled. 



* Fruits and Fruit Trees of America. 

 tAmericaii Fruit Culturist. 



