FRUIT BLOSSOMS 
413 
grower of Terra Ceia for six years or more 
has had 40 colonies of bees in his grove and 
every year during this time has had a 
fine crop of fruit, which has attracted wide 
attention. The marked increase in the 
quantity and quality of the oranges raised 
around DeLand is largely attributed to 
the greater number of bees kept near the 
groves. Twenty years ago there were not 
ten hives and now there are hundreds. 
There should be at least five hives to the 
acre. (Baldwin, E. G., The DeLand News, 
Dec. 23, 1914.) 
CONCLUSIONS. 
(1) 
Many nut trees, cereals, and a few fruit 
trees are pollinated by the wind; but in 
general fruit bloom is either pollinated by 
insects or is self-pollinated. The few pol¬ 
len grains distributed by the wind are of 
no importance. This is clearly shown both 
by the structure of the flowers and by re¬ 
peated experiments. A noteworthy exam¬ 
ple is given in the bulletin of the Oregon 
Experiment Station for 1909. From 1500 
blossoms on a seven-year-old apple tree all 
the petals were removed in order that they 
might not attract insects. The result was 
that only eight bees were seen to visit the 
flowers, while another tree about 20 feet 
away, which bloomed profusely, received 
40 visits from bees in half an hour. The 
stamens were also removed to prevent self- 
pollination. Only five flowers set fruit. 
Evidently the wind did not pollinate a 
single blossom. 
( 2 ) 
Self-sterility is very common among cul¬ 
tivated fruits. It is partly due to the sep¬ 
aration of the stamens and pistils in dif¬ 
ferent flowers and partly to the impotency 
or ineffectiveness of the pollen in self-pol¬ 
lination. Hybrids, as among the grapes, 
are usually self-sterile. A variety may be 
sterile to its own pollen and also to the 
pollen of another variety; e. g., the Na- 
poeon and Bing sweet cherries are self- 
sterile and mutually inter-sterile. A knowl¬ 
edge of self-sterility is, therefore, of the 
greatest importance in fruit-growing. 
(3) 
Among cultivated fruits cross-pollination 
by insects usually prevails, even among 
species possessing the power of self-fer¬ 
tilization. Pollen from another variety is 
generally prepotent over pollen from the 
same variety. Self-pollination in the early 
stages of most fruit blossoms is prevented 
by the stigmas and anthers maturing at 
different times (dichogamy), also by their 
relative position. Fruits resulting from 
cross-pollination are usually larger, better 
formed, and contain fully developed seeds. 
(4) 
In the absence of cross-pollination many 
fruit blossoms may be self-pollinated in 
various ways. According to Waite self-pol¬ 
linated and cross-pollinated flowers of the 
quince were equally productive, but this 
(Statement may be modified by further ob¬ 
servation. Fruits from self-pollinated and 
self-fertilized flowers are usually smaller, 
less perfect, and contain only vestiges of 
seeds. Automatic self-pollination is as ef¬ 
fective as self-pollination by hand. At the 
Oregon Experiment Station two sets of 
flower buds of different varieties of apples 
were enclosed in bags. One lot was left 
untouched. The bags of the other lot were 
opened, the flowers pollinated by hand, and 
the bags then replaced. Both lots gave 
practically the same results. 
(5) 
Beetles, flies, butterflies, moths, sawflies, 
wasps, and bees are all useful agents in 
pollination; but sometimes certain beetles 
and flies do more harm than good. Ants 
are invariably hurtful. The bees and wasps 
are the most beneficial, next come the flies, 
followed by the butterflies and moths, while 
the beetles stand last. 
( 6 ) 
In wild or thinly settled regions and in 
small orchards the wild bees are very bene¬ 
ficial; and their visits to plums, cherries, 
blackberries, and in some instances other 
fruits greatly outnumber those of the 
honeybee. But many of the wild bees fly 
only from 30 to 90 days; a part are vernal 
and a part autumnal; and as they build 
their burrows largely in the ground they 
are destroyed or driven away by intensive 
culture. They cannot, therefore, be relied 
upon in extensive fruit plantations for pol¬ 
lination. 
