22 



TJIK POr.LINATION OF TEAR FLOWKRS. 



fruit spurs jiiid arc sijowy white witli flowers every year, but the th)w- 

 ers or the youug fruits when the size of a pea nearly always drop off. 



The method of propagation of horticultural varieties of pears came 

 to mind. They are, as is well known, reproduced by budding or graft- 

 ing from some original seedling tree which has especially desirable 

 fruit or other good qualities. In some cases, as the Kieffer and Le 

 Oonte, they are in'opagated by cuttings. In all cases then, the trees of 

 one horticultural variety are parts of one individual tree, which have 

 been separated by division, and which still retain all or nearly all the 

 characteristics of the original tree. 



The crossing of one flower of a plant with another on the same 

 plant is called individual crossing, and the resulting seedling an indi- 

 vidual cross, to distinguish it from a true cross between distinct plants; 

 but Avhen dealing with budded or grafted fruit trees the separate trees 

 of one variety as they stand in the orchard have no individuality, and 

 a cross from one tree to another would simply be an individual cross. 

 In order, then, to have a true cross, such as occurs betw een two plants 

 grown from seeds, it would be necessary to cross two distinct varieties. 

 Crossing two Bartlett trees would be little more than crossing two 

 flowers on the same jflant, but crossing a Bartlett and an Anjou would 

 be making a true cross between difi'erent seedlings. 



Darwin has shown with his experiments on Pelargonium that the 

 benefits of crossing are not secured when crosses are made between 

 two plants i^ropagated by cuttings from the same stock. This con- 

 clusion relates to the growth of the resulting seedlings. Could it not 

 be that in the pear inferiority of individual crossing miglit be mani- 

 fested on another line which Darwin has oi^ened up for us, i. e., in the 

 matter of fruit production? It seemed quite possible, then, that what 

 these trees needed to make them fruit was the pollen of other varieties. 

 Accordingly experiments were planned to test the truth of this hypoth- 

 esis. 



On April 8 the orchard was again visited, for the purpose of carry- 

 ing out these experiments, together Avith several others on pear diseases. 

 The Le Oonte pears were in full bloom. The Kieffers in a neighboring 

 orchard were just coming into flower. Ordinary varieties were in bud 

 and showed the white or pink petals slightly. A single Anjou tree 

 came into flower April 14. Two or three large standard Angonleme trees 

 in the old orchard bloomed Ax)ril 15 and several Seckels near them 

 bloomed Ai)ril 16. The Bartletts began to open on April 17 and before 

 night were well covered with flowers. They continued in bloom through 

 the week, beginning to shed their petals by the 22d, and on the 24th were 

 nearly out of flower. The Clapps Favorite was just with the Bartletts, 

 but only a few flowers came on these trees. A number of White 

 Doyenne trees also bloomed with the Bartletts. 



Weather record. — The season of 1892 was not very favorable to the 

 setting of pears in the James River region. The nearest point at Avhich 



