
608 Report o¥ THE HorvicutruRist oF THE Oe any 
_ 
greater part of the period of treatment. With the grape, on the ! 
other hand, the spray was directed so as to cover completely the 
whole vine. The temperature of the water used was one and wan 
seven-tenths degrees Fahr. warmer than rain water coming from 
the eaves, both being tested at the same time. The waiter was »* 
from a reservoir fed by springs. 
EXPERIMENT witH Mount VrrRNon Prar TREE. © 
On May sixteenth, two Mount Vernon pear trees, apparently of 
equal vigor, standing within 100 feet of each other, were selected. 
Into one was thrust the Vermorel nozzle with its broad fine spray. 
The tree was about twenty-five feet high and the spray from the 
nozzle did not entirely cover it, in fact the original design, soon 
abandoned, was to wet only one-half of the tree and leave the 
other half dry. At the inauguration of the experiment, only a 
few blossoms had opened upon either tree, and, as no insects had 
been busy about the fruit trees, owing to the cold weather imme- 
diately preceding, no risk from previous pollination was run. 
The water was turned on at noon, of May sixteenth, and kept 
running (except from 10 a. m. of the twenty-first, to 10 a. m. of 
the twenty-third, during an almost constant rain-storm precipi- ‘ 
tating .72 of an inch of water), until 3 p. m. of the twenty-fifth. 
The total length of time in, which the tree was kept wet was 219 
hours, or nine days and three hours. 
Effect on flowers.— On May seventeenth, after the tree had ee 
been under the spray twenty-four hours, an examination was 
made of the stigmas of many of the flowers and they were found __ 
to be dusted with pollen, although no insects had been seen 
abont the tree. Pollen was taken from fresh anthers on the ~ 
21 (the fifth day), and placed in weak sugar solution, to. Be 
test its germinative power. It proved to be perfectly capable of — of: 
germination. The flowers at this time presented a curious appear- 
ance. The anthers of the innermost stamens were plump and 
of their normal pink color, while the outermost ones were swollen. ; 
and decayed, and contained many disintegrated pollen germs and 

