Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1907-10-16
FRUITING OF cUcUMBERs.
Why It ls That often but Little Fruit
Sets on the Vines.

Not few people are puzzled by the
behavior of cucumber vines in the
gardens and complain that although
the vines are blossoming full, little or
no fruit sets. A number of inquiries
Of this nature havo already been re-
ceived at the Colorado Agricultural
college experiment station this year.
The reason for this. writes w. Pad
dock, is as follows: There are two
kinds of blossoms upon the cucum-
Der vines, as we'll as" upon a number
Of other plants of similar nature. The
first blossom to set, and by far the
most numerous throughout the life of
the plant, are what avn known as
male flowers. These are imperfect
in their makeup, for the reason that
they lack the pistil, or that part from
which the fruit and seed are formed,
but it bears an abundance of pollen
which is necessary to the develop
ment Of the pistil of the pistillate
flowers.
The other, or pistillate flowers,
| sometimes called the female blossoms,
| are produced later in the season and
are also imperfect for the reason that
| they usually lack stamens, but are
provided with pistil. The pistillate
flowers can readily be told, because
there is miniature cucumber at it's
base, even before the bud has opened.
Now, in order to produce fruit, it
Is necessary for pollen from the stami-
nate blossoms to be transferred to the
pistil of the other class of flowers.
When grown in the green house, the
work of pollination must be done by
hand, but out of doors, there are al
ways insect visitors enough to per-
form this important work. In fact,
this is one of natures provisions by
which cross-fertilization of plants is
effected. Insects of many and various
kinds visit from blossom to blossom,
and as they go to the staminate flow
ers their bodies become busted with
the pollen; then as they chance to
visit pistillate flower, some of the
pollen is bound to be left upon the
receptive surface of the pistil. This
In plants is known as pollination.
The pollen grains have the power
Of termination much like a grain of
corn. The end of the pistil is moist
so that the grains soon terminate and
the germ tube finds it's way
down through the pistil to the imma-
ture seed which it enters and gives
up a portion of it's protoplasm. This
process is known as fertilization
AS rule it may be stated that no
fruit of any kind can be produced
without this process of pollination
and fertilization. Fertilization incites
the immature seeds into growth, and
this, of course, causes the parts
which surround them, as in the case
IF cucumbers, to grow, and the result
Is what we recognize as the matured
fruit, which in this case is not strictly
correct
Certain conditions which are not
we'll understood seem to keep the
paint producing staminate blossoms
at the expense of early fruit produc
ton. But in general way, we cannot
materially hasten the formation OF
pistillate blossoms. We should see tt
it, therefore, that the plants are kept
in vigorous growing condition BY
planting them, first of all, in gool
garden soil, and seeing that they are
supplied with an abundance of moist
ure at all times.