406 
FRUIT BLOSSOMS 
10 to 100 acres have been planted consist¬ 
ing' wholly of one or more of the standard 
varieties. It has been commonly recognized 
that rain fog, temperature, the condition 
of the soil, and the age of the trees are 
influential factors; but few in the absence 
of definite information have considered the 
possibility of self-sterility. 
In order to determine the cause and rem¬ 
edy these failures Gardner in 1911-13 in¬ 
vestigated the pollination of the sweet cher¬ 
ries. Thousands of flowers were pollinated 
with their own pollen and insects excluded 
by bagging. All of the 16 varieties tested 
Tartarian, and Waterhouse. (Gardner, Y. 
R., “The Pollination of the Sweet Cherry.” 
Oregon Experiment Station, Bulletin 116, 
1913.) 
“The importance of honeybees as agents 
in cross-pollination,” says Gardner, “can¬ 
not be over-emphasized.” This is clearly 
shown also by the experience of cherry- 
growers in California. For several years 
the cherry crop of Vaca Valley, Solano 
County, Cal., had not been good, altho it 
had formerly been quite sure. It was rec¬ 
ollected that formerly, when the cherry 
crops were good, wild bees were very plenti- 
2. Average cluster of Bing crossed by Williamette. 
(After Gardner.) 
ful in the valley, ■ and since most of the 
bees had disappeared it was thought that 
perhaps the lack of fruit might be due to 
imperfect pollination. To test the matter 
the Messrs. Bassford, therefore, placed sev¬ 
eral hives of bees in their orchard in 1890. 
The result was striking, for the Bassford 
orchard bore a good crop of cherries; while 
other growers in the valley who had no bees 
found their crops entire or partial failures. 
In 1891 there were some 65 hives in the 
Bassford orchard, and H. A. Bassford 
wrote to the Entomologist: “Our crop was 
good this season, and we attribute it to the 
bees. Since we have been keeping bees our 
1. Bing sweet cherry crossed by Napoleon yields 
no fruit.— (After Gardner.) 
proved self-sterile. The self-sterility was 
in no case due to the inability of the pollen 
to germinate, for in the case of each of the 
varieties tested the pollen was potent in 
producing fruit with some other variety. 
Ninety per cent of the commercial plant¬ 
ings consist of the varieties Napoleon, Lam¬ 
bert, and Bing, all three of which are inter- 
sterile; that is, each of these varieties is 
sterile to the pollen of the other two varie¬ 
ties as well as to its own pollen. Napoleon, 
where planted in solid blocks, yielded little 
fruit altho interplanted with Lambert and 
Bing. But each of these three varieties is ef¬ 
fectively pollinated by Black Republican, 
