8 BULLETIN 104, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The flowers of a beet spike open successively; therefore, few at any 
one time attain the same stage of development. This fact not only 
limits the number of available buds on each spike, but also may 
reduce the percentage of effective hand pollination as much as 50 per 
cent. The above results may therefore be considered not only posi- 
tive, but surprising. The complete notes of the results of this experi- 
ment are shown in Table II. 
Table II. — Pollination of beet f overs — experiment of August 26, 1911. 
Description. 
Flowers. 
Seeds. 
Spike. 
On 
spike. 
Sterile. 
Num- 
ber. 
Per 
cent. 
Remarks. 
No. la 
No. 2a 
No. 2b 
No. 2c 
No. 3a 
..' Check 
do 
do 
do 
do 
Total 
. . Thrips admitted . . . 
. . Missing 
22 
14 
36 
22 
10 
22 
14 
36 
22 
10 










Not emasculated; spike dry and 
brown. 
Do. 
Emasculated. 
Do. 
Emasculated; stems and flowers 
green. 
104 
104 
o 
o 
No. 3b 
No. 3c 
7 
5 
2 
2S.6 
No. 4a 
No. 4b 
. . Thrirjs admitted . . . 
d0 
Total 
Wild beets. 
. . Check 
12 
35 
10 
28 
2 
7 
16.66 
20.00 
54 
43 
11 
20.37 
For the entire set. 
No. 1 
No. 2. . 
.do.. 
No. 4 
do 
All. 
° 
° 
Broken off. 
No. 3 
Do. 
do 
Do. 
No. 6 
do 
Do. 
No. 7 
do 
Do. 
No. 8 
do 
24 
19 
5 
20.83 
During the following season two similar experiments were carried 
out. The first experiment was made on June 26, 1912, when the 
plants were flowering abundantly. On this date two spikes were 
prepared as already described, except that the additional precaution 
was taken to spray thoroughly all parts of the flowers and spikes 
with water from an atomizer to remove any thrips that might be 
hidden there. Three days later thrips were collected and transferred 
to the bags. A month later complete notes were made, with the 
results shown in Table III. 
On July 12, 1912, the second experiment was started in the same 
manner with three spikes, and a month later the data shown in Table 
III were secured. 
These experiments demonstrate that thrips transferred from one 
flowering beet to another may carry sufficient pollen on their bodies 
to effect fertilization. 
