374 Report oF THE HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT OF THE 
II. INVESTIGATIONS OF 1900 BY THE NEW YORK AGRI- 
CULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, 
S. A. Bracu. 
EFFECT OF SPRAY MIXTURES ON POLLEN AND ON BLOSSOMS. 
The effect of spray mixture upon blossoms was studied in the 
laboratory and also in the orchard. Open blossoms in the 
orchard were sprayed and then tagged so that they might be 
kept under observation and the final effect of the treatment be 
known with certainty. In the laboratory pollen grains were put 
into cultures which contained neither insecticide nor fungicide 
and the germination and growth in these cultures were compared 
with the germination and growth in corresponding cultures con- 
taining either a fungicide or an insecticide or both. 
LABORATORY STUDY OF THD EFFECT OF SPRAY MIXTURES UPON THB 
GERMINATION OF POLLEN AND THE GROWTH OF POLLEN TUBES. 
In the laboratory pollen cultures were made in distilled water; 
in sugar solutions containing various percentages of cane sugar 
in water; in weak sugar solution combined with various dilutions 
of Bordeaux mixture made of commercial copper sulphate and 
lime; with Bordeaux mixture made of chemically pure ingre- 
dients; with Bordeaux mixture combined with some arsenical 
compound as commonly used in spraying orchards; with arsenical 
spray mixtures alone; and with lime alone. 
Method of selecting pollen for the cultures.—The blossoms which 
were to furnish pollen for cultures were taken to the laboratory 
before they opened so as to avoid the possibility of some other 
kind of pollen being brought to the flower either by wind or 
insect. The stem which supported the blossom cluster was put 
into water so that the blossom buds might opea. From blossoms 
thus treated a single anther was selected to furnish pollen for all 
of the cultures in a series. It is believed that by this method 
pollen of as uniform vigor as it was possible to obtain was fur- - 
nished for all cultures which were to be compared in a single 
series, 
