Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-13
FRUIT POLLINATION.

The homo gardener should realize
that a tree fun of blossoms does not
necessarily mean tree full of fruit
even though weather is favorable and
i, the soil is fertile. 1t is necessary first
that the blossoms become pollenized.
This would appear relatively simple.
since i'll most of our northern fruits
the male and female elements are borne
In the same flower. but the handicap
arises IN the fact that in many of the
wen known varieties commonly grown
! IN our gardens the pollen of any given
| variety is not able to fertilize its own
blooms Obviously this is a serious
| problem In the home orchard in which
there is often planted but a single
/ variety of apple, pear or cherry. The
peach is a fortunate exception, there
being only two or three kinds among
the hundreds grown that are unable to
seIf-fertiliZs-or, better expressed, self
polltnate-their blooms. The j. H. Hale
variety is about the only peach that
will cause trouble to the home gardener
and for this reason should not be
selected for planting unless one plants
Eloerta or some other variety close by
to supply the needed pollen.
With apples, the situation is more
serious. At the Maryland Agricultural
A1APCAAAA%AA OIcIAO1l az SOiIGBC GdIh ~
was found, some four or five years ago,
that of IS varieties tested only IL were
sufficiently self-fertile to yield salts
factory crop of apples when grown by
themselves. These II were: Cox Orange,
Early Harvest, Ingram, Lowell, Maiden
Blush, Grimes Golden, Mother, Rome
Beauty, Tompkins King, Wealthy, yell
low Transparent and York Imperial. It
| is to be seen that only two or three of
the apples commonly grown in this
vicinity were capable of fruiting salts
factorily when planted alone. Stayman
Winesap and Winesap, two favorite
Winter apples, were almost completely
self-sterile.
Sweet cherries have been found with
only one or two exceptions to be in
need of -pollination. The old
favorite, Black Tartarian, usually bears
good crops even when planted alone.
Certain varieties, Bling, Lambert and
Napoleon, have failed to pollinate one
another and should not be planted to-
gether unless Black Tartarian or some
other variety is added The so-oNled
sour or cooking cherries, Early Rich
mond. Montinorency and English
Morello, have been found capable of
self-pollination and may be planted as
individuals in the fruit garden.
FedTb, much ike apples, generally IAN
to produce crops without the presence
of other varieties blooming at the same
time. The well known Bartlett pear is
listed among the self-sterile kinds.
| Studies with plums show the native
American and the japanese varieties to
be mostly self-sterile, while the Euro
pean kinds are more often self-fruitful.
Assummarized by Dr. Chandler in his
book, Fruit Growing" Agen, Giant,
italian Prune, RENE Claude, Sugar,
Victoria and Yellow Egg can be rated
as dependably self-fruitful.
Quite fortunately the varieties of
grapes grown in the home garden, the
Concord, Niagara, Caco. Worden, etc,
are of the type that bear fruit with
their own pollen. There are, however
many self-sterile grapes, notably
Brighton, Herbert and Lindley, but
there is no need Of growing these i'm
perfect varieties.
Strawberries are of two types, self
fertile (perfect) and salf-fruitless Qrn-
perfect) but here again the problem
is not acute because most of the every
day varieties such as Premier (Howard
l7), are of the perfect type.