242 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTITRAL SOCIETY. 



Brackett, Poinologist, Bureau of Plant Industry, Farmers' Bulletin 

 482, it is said: " Some varieties of pear are Infertile by themselves and 

 therefore varieties should be intermingled in planting in order to ensure 

 fruitfulness. No more than two rows of one variety should be planted 

 together, alternating with some other variety that is considered a good 

 pollinizer. " Then follows a list of varieties found more or less self- 

 sterile and those found generally fertile. He further states that self- 

 fertile varieties under some conditions may become sel'f-sterile under 

 other conditions. 



It is desirable to take some note of the relative order of flowering of 

 pears for cross-pollination. 



Mr. 0. J. Lewis says that in Oregon * Williams' Bon Chretien ' 

 and * Beurre d'Anjou ' intercrop very well, also ' Winter N^lis ' with 



* Doyenn^ du Comice,' but 'Williams' Bon Chretien' and 'Beurre 

 Bosc ' were found not to inter-pollinate with good results. 



' Beurre Clairgeau ' is a prolific early flowering variety that might 

 be tried as a pollinizer for early varieties, whilst ' Olapp's Favourite ' 

 would probably prove a good pollinizer for late flowering kinds. It is 

 found to be a good pollinizer in the United States. 



Plums. 



Out of 13 varieties I tried, only 3 — ' Victoria, ' ' Ozar, ' and 



* Bullace' — matured fruit when not pollinated. Of 12 varieties pollin- 

 ated with their own pollen, 6 varieties set and matured fruit — viz., 

 'Victoria,' 'Czar,' ' Denniston's Superb,' 'Bittern,' 'Monarch,' 

 'Bullace,' and 'Elvers' Early Prolific.' Out of 10 varieties cross- 

 pollinated 7 set fruit. 



Mr. W. 0. Backhouse, who has made very careful experiments on 

 this subject at the John Innes Horticultural Institution, at the annual 

 meeting of the National Fruit Growers' Federation stated that he 

 found the following 9 plums : 



Self-fertile. — -'Victoria,' 'Prince Engelbert,' 'Czar,' 'Pershore, ' 

 'Yellow Magnum Bonum,' 'Damson var.,' 'Denniston's Superb,' 

 ' Early Transparent, ' ' Peine Claude Violette. ' 



And the following 12 plums : 



Self-Sterile.-—' H.isk)n Gage,' 'Early Orleans,' 'Late Orleans,' 

 ' Sultan,' ' Kirke's Blue,' * Coe's Golden Drop,' ' Washington,' ' Late 

 Transparent,' 'Blue Imptotrice,' 'Early Greengage,' 'Old Green- 

 gage,' and ' Peine Claude d'Althan.' 



He remarks that Among plums on the whole the self-fertile varie- 

 ties correspond with the best croppers; but it is not always so, for 

 ' Rivers' Early Prolific,' which is a great cropper, is very nearly self- 

 sterile, settling, in his trials, little more than one per cent, of its flowers 

 when self-pollinated. In addition to the varieties above mentioned, in 

 my trials 'Cox's Emperor,' 'July Greengage,' 'Greengage,' 'Black 

 Diamond,' 'Pond's Seedling,' 'Bradley's King of Damsons,' and 

 ' Jefferson ' proved self-sterile. 



