THE POLLINATION AND SETTING OF FRUIT BLOSSOMS. 241 



pears to exclude insects : 'fruit set on 6 only, but all the fruits gradually 

 fell before maturity. I also bagged and pollinated with pollen of the 

 same variety 30 different varieties of pear: in these about the same 

 proportion set fiTiit, but only 2 matured — viz., ' Duchesse d'Angouleme ' 

 and ' Colmar d'Ete, ' that of * General Todleben ' falling early in July; 

 whilst of 5 varieties cross-pollinated, all 5 set fruit. 



More or less self -fertile pears.— Mr. Chittenden found * Confer- 

 ence ' and ' Durondeau ' set with own pollen ; in my trials I found 

 'Duchesse d'Angouleme' and 'Colmar d'Ete'; in North America 

 'Duchesse d'Angouleme,' ' Beurre Bosc,' * Beurr^ Diel,' 'Doyenne 

 d'Alen9on,' ' Flemish Beauty,' and ' White Doyenne ' were found to 

 be self- fertile, but it does not necessarily follow that varieties that are 

 self-fertile in America are self-fertile in England. 



Varieties found apparently self-sterile. — Mr. Chittenden, in 1902 

 and 1903, found fruit not to set with its own pollen with ' Beurre 

 d'Amanlis,' 'Beurre Superfin,' 'Catillac,' 'Doyenne du Comice,' 

 'Easter Beurre,' ' Emile d'Heyst,' 'Jargonelle,' 'Josephine de 

 Malines,' ' Louise Bonne of Jersey,' ' Williams' Bon Chretien,' * Olivier 

 de Serres,' ' Bellissime d'Hiver ' and ' Pitmaston Duchess '; the last 

 two varieties in the second year did, however, set one fruit out of 

 eighteen trials and one of twelve respectively. In my own experiments 

 the varieties that did not set and mature fruit with their own pollen 

 were 'Beurre Diel,' 'Beurre Superfin,' 'Catillac,' 'Citron des 

 Carmes,' ' Clapp's Favourite,' ' Conference,' ' Marie Louise,' ' Louise 

 Bonne of Jersey,' 'Pitmaston Duchess,' ' Souvenir du Congres,' ' St. 

 Luke,' ' Uvedale's St. Germain,' and 'Williams' Bon Chretien.' 

 My trials consisted in most cases of only one bag on each variety, so 

 need repetition for confirmation. 



In the United States ' White Doyenn^ ' and ' Clapp's Favourite ' 

 have proved themselves good pollinizers for ' Williams' Bon Chretien.' 

 In the case of ' Vicar of Winkfield ' I pollinated four buds with pollen 

 of ' Winter Crasanne ' and had two fine pears as the result, the best 

 on the tree. This spring a lady told me that in her garden was a fine 

 wall-trained pear tree which, although it blossomed well each year, 

 never carried fruit. I gave her several bunches of pear-flowers of two 

 varieties which were then open, and a camel' s-hair brush to dust the 

 open flowers with pollen of the flowers I had given her; this she did, 

 and there is now an excellent crop, apparently due to this artificial 

 cross-pollination. 



I think an amateur interested in fruit, with a short time devoted to 

 it, might be well repaid in this cross-pollination of pears, especially in 

 windy ungenial weather, when insects are not attracted out. The work 

 is quickly done and shy bearers would very likely be persuaded to fruit. 



These trials show very markedly the importance of the visits of 

 insects and of intermixing varieties. 



In a bulletin issued this year by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, entitled "The Pear, and how to grow it," by G. B. 



