PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS 
243 
He should know, too, that the so-called false blossoms of 
the cucumber bear the pollen, without which the cucumbers 
will not develop in the pistillate flowers. 
The farmer should know that corn of different varieties 
like sweet corn and popcorn should not be planted in 
adjoining fields lest undesirable cross-pollination occur. 
Ears resulting from such pollination are uneven in size and 
show grains which differ in color from most of the other 
kernels. These are hybrids. He has probably learned 
from experience, however, that closely planted rows of corn 
in a field produce fuller ears than stalks standing alone. 
This is due to more thorough pollination. 
Fruit packers have learned that very careful handling is 
necessary in picking, sorting, and shipping fruit in order 
that the skin may not be 
broken. Broken skin ad¬ 
mits bacteria (see page 
309) which soon cause de¬ 
cay. Cold storage checks 
the growth of bacteria if 
any are present. 
For many years Smyrna 
has been the source of the 
fig supply of the world. 
The fruit-growers of Cali¬ 
fornia, seeing no reason 
why figs should not grow in 
that state, imported trees from Smyrna. Although these trees 
produced many blossoms, none of them matured into fruit. 
It has been customary since the time of Aristotle to hang 
branches bearing the wild, inedible fig in the Smyrna fig tree 
when it was in blossom. This wild fig, known as the caprifig, 
harbors the parasitic fig-wasp (Figure 232). The caprifig 
produces three kinds of fruit, spring, summer, and fall. The 
fig-wasp lays its eggs in the flowers of the caprifig (Figure 
