5 6 
AMERICAN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE JOURNAL 
May, 1900. 
POLLINATION IN ORCHARDS. 
By S \V. Fletcher, of Cornell I'nlverwltj 
Experiment station, IIlwB'ii. \. V. 
1. Various Reasons Why Flowers Do Not Set. 
All observing fruit -gT 0 we r- h.i'-v sem 
trees which blossom full •»»»• do not set n 
f'tlr amount of fruit; tunny Imre found 
their orchards unprofitable for this reason. 
It is n practical point 10 know the causes 
of this loss End the beat way to prevent It, 
Not All the Flowers Can Set Fruit 
In the first place, but a small percentage 
of the blossoms set ft nit anyway, even tn 
the discussion Of self ■sterility may be bet- 
ter understood. The Influences which 
sometimes make trees unfiuliful, which 
are often confused with the anfrull fulness 
resulting from si lf-st nitty, are ill heavy 
wood growth, t 2 t the attack of fuoal "It 
the blossoms, tilt frosts. <-»> unfavorable 
weather daring the blooming season U 
should also he said that a tree 1* not .. If 
sterile when It does not hln.uii We 
do not attempt to tell why frees do 
not bloom, except that it (a generally due 
;o poor manage incut. The only thing which 
early growth of these parasites, The com 
mon brown -rot fungus often kills peach 
blossoms and mity seriously decrease the 
setting or fruit, it l« probable that this 
fungus sometimes attacks plum and cherry 
blossoms also ipplc and pear ocoh hvi;, 
kill the blossoms but moro otlon it kills 
the young fruit* .stKifl offer they me »et. 
Wherever spraying s practiced falthfiilly, 
the killing or fruit blossoms by fungi beeil 
not oecur. csfiL'i'lti 1 1 v ir out* thorough ap- 
plication Is made b> the trees before the 
buds open. The killing of pear blossoms 
by blight, how ever, cannot bo prevented 
by spray lug. The blossoms Oil K Ioffe r and 
I/Ct'onte trees me especially Ithblo to he 
destroyed by the growth of blight lul 
.nd.es, which are carried from flower to 
flower. The only way to prevent tills b.ms 
I* to have no blighted trees In or near the 
orchard. 
Winter and Spring Frost May Injure the 
Blossoms. 
The unfrultfiilncaa arising from winter 
.1 spring frost injury is soniHlmes eon 
fused with seir-sl. riMy. Various forms of 
winter Injury to fruit buds art shown in 
Figs. 72 - 77 . At A in Fig. 72 is 11 trnlt bud 
which has both < nmphftily winter killed 
and has made no growth whatever. II and 
F arc buds which will never be able to 
the most favorable seasons and with the 
most productive varieties. In blossoming 
time a Japanese plum tree Is a mass of 
white, carrying scores i>r flowers on 11 sin- 
gle branch: yet scarcely a dozen fruits may 
K °l (,n that twig, and Rome of those must 
h. removed or the tree will overbear. In 
die pollination work at liiincn In ISOli, 1. 
72 -'. untouched blossoms, including apple*, 
p'oia, plums and apricots, set hot on 
tnnt>. The blossom* counted were those 
on the tree at large and were used f..r com- 
parison with the hand erowsiw, Tills Is 
t.ln.ut 0110 fruit for every eight hluawma; 
.vet most of the tre. - *ct whnt would be 
• ailed a good crop Ml ,.f these i.kuwont* 
were apparently uninjured by the whiter 
Oi.d the weather during the Wossomimj 
season was very favorable for the wiling 
of fruit. 
This normal failure lu ttm setting of fruit 
blossoms may be due n, n number of 
ca iisas: a* poorly nourl-hed fruit hud-., 
lac : or pollination or Whiter Injury 1 o the 
p stil* Which earned t... „.|fb 
alone, it U usually distinct advantage 
r « t f 1 L? rnw *‘ r ' u * " •»*•■* thlnnlnp. 
a 1 plum blossoms Set t roll. f,he exp.m-c 
T uM h " '’"dtlpiu-d runny 
0n, f ". h,,D *hc failure of fruit blos- 
*00 * to M*t become* general, . 1 ... ; the 
isssssr 1 *** »" 
Wlsdcde ralb,,,. |„ the s.ltliu of 
tndr Is often 'ailed seif-Myi Hu, Frop,-.- 
' "I'; : »WnK.« self-sterile tree w one which 
! et*ie«’o ,lfr ". ff ! ll: " J " u, ' , have other vn- 
les near It in order t„ bear well. Hut 
fruHs r 'l« ,r V '''' “; lf ' , ** rll,, y lu orchard 
ru n. J r 'I.'o, lvl,l ‘ "'«• nnfrnlt- 
v. n .r 1 n ' it 
" ' ' therefore, be well r |,.., r „ WB , 
h r Confusion at file outset. In order that 
concerns us now Is. why trees which blos- 
som full do not s.-t a reasonable amount 
of fruit. 
Blossoms May Drop Because of Heavy Wood 
Growth 
Young trees generally set little or no 
fruit the fleet few joatr when they are 
growing fast, although they n.av bios sum 
f ""' "'dli TarletJr* this early drop- 
ping of the blnssoniK (.retire only two or 
three scjibui.k, but Northern Spy and a few 
.'ther varieties of apple* nr.- often iinfruU- 
*'{* a- " *° Udrte. n years front this cause, 
'ild. r ire. tuny show the tamo results If 
stimulated to,, highly with nitrogenous fer- 
1 11 j 1 • 1 ij i« tn 
it..- executive crow 111 uf wood by with- 
holding nitrogen , ir |,j putting the orchard 
Into sou for a fen year- 
'"h" direct aw.. ,.r this unfrultfoIncRs 
I* imt known The "lomena and pistils are 
11 v J v ' 11 developed ami pollen may be 
prY.. , "r, . tn .-ibundMJtre since voting tie,.* 
drop their Mas*., m« hailly In 11 mixed 01- 
ehm 1 where Other pulleu 1 * avalll.l.le, as 
"hell alone. ||„. t rouble probably lien more 
with .he pistil* than With the pollen. 
' P l'l this limit of exresulvo growth 
heiv U ., rainy conu'aot relation between 
l «\i *7 n " J l'l '"luetlvero - s. 
im. v, ‘-" r much more unfruit- 
fUlne-i. llmu f-x. * sslv. vigor, if a tree Is 
miheuMUy dying I** . a use of poor nour- 
hu,. 1,1 feu- ot a,, blurnnm* are strong 
rT’ ,V‘ ,T' frul1 Tl,e r - s «"« n.n v 
KX,‘ f ,r "" ! " ' -'"uuMed by over- 
Blossoms May Be Kdled By Fungi. 
IT the W.11 thee Is «arm and wet In earlv 
l ;":' ,lll0 1 " 8 ar '- favor, Ibtc for the 
d. .. troll lT y ' ,ln ‘ l " ’ , ®“ p U*'tos happi'DR 
U • ' ‘ "" hluwohi* are "blasted-' by the 
W. -It, i.oiten oBCBpfng from 
»niier. a, pollen *arn.ln«tlng 
on tl.e stigma. lCidarged. Tl.e 
transfer of pollen to tlm slign.u 
Is enllt'.l pollination, 
of n plum bl(.«- 
som, se. sepals; p, petals; atu. 
stamens; 0. ovary; s. style; *t. 
stigma The pKtl! Is comprised 
of the ovary, style iuuL stigma. 
It eiintalns the female part. The 
statnou* an’ tipper with anthers 
In wldeli the pollen, ur male 
part, Is borne. The ovary, o, 
ripens Into the fruit. 
