240 JOUENAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



With further trials in different parts of the country, some alterations 

 may be necessary, but the lesson to be learned is that intermixing two 

 or more varieties in an orchard or garden is advisable, as a larger crop 

 is usually obtained where several varieties are intermixed. 



Now as to the question of choosing of pollinizers. Out of 65 varie- 

 ties I cross-pollinated, I had fruit set and mature on 48. The varieties 

 to be intermixed should flower at approximately the same period. 

 Therefore avoid planting very early blossoming kinds with very late 

 blossoming, but rather plant early flowering kinds with early flowering 

 or mid-season varieties, and late flowering sorts with late or mid- 

 season flowering varieties. Mr. Chittenden has furnished us with 

 excellent tables of the relative order of flowering of 235 varieties of 

 apples in a contribution to the Journal E.H.S. xxxvii. (1911), p. 350, 

 entitled " Pollination in Orchards." 



If two or three varieties are to be planted in an orchard, better 

 results will probably follow by planting first one row of one variety, 

 then another row of a different variety, and so on, rather than planting 

 in two or three large blocks each of one variety. 



A bulletin on " Cross and Self Polhnation of the Apple," issued by 

 the Oregon Experiment Station, tells us that " all varieties do not cross 

 satisfactorily with each other ; when one variety was fertilized with pollen 

 from a number of other varieties, distinct differences were found in the 

 number of fruits set from the different crosses and in the average weight 

 of the produce. The suitability of varieties for crossing is a matter of 

 investigation, but it is pointed out that in planting different varieties 

 together their pollen-producing qualities should be taken into considera- 

 tion, as well as their commercial value, while it is important that they 

 should come into blossom at about the same time, or at any rate their 

 blossoming periods should overlap." 



I tried 10 different pollens on a ' Cox's Orange ' tree, but only 

 had fruit mature from two — viz., 'High Canons' and * Bramley's 

 Seedling.' We want more knowledge on this subject of cross-pollina- 

 tion, with observation of the conditions where certain fruits yield 

 well and observations where fruits yield badly, in order to try and 

 ascertain the cause of the difference. The different varieties of Crab 

 apple are by some people recommended as being good pollinizers for 

 apples generally. 



Pears. 



In pears Mr. M. B. Waite in 1891 and 1892 found in the United 

 States that out of 36 varieties, 14 were more or less self-fertile, while 

 22 were self -sterile, and that although a few varieties were quite pro- 

 ductive with their own pollen, yet even with these self -pollination 

 seemed less certain than cross-pollination. 



Mr. F. J. Chittenden in 1902 and 1903 tested 15 varieties: of 

 these only 2 proved self-fertile. 



In 1911 I placed bags over unopened blossoms on 30 varieties of 



