Grapes -- Varieties -- United States; Viticulture -- United States
In the main, the cause of infertility, as with other fruits, is the
impotency of pollen on the pistils of the same variety. There are a
few cases in which pollen does not seem to be formed abundantly, but
these are very few. There are a few cases, also, in which the pistil
does not become receptive until after the pollen has lost its
vitality; these, however, are very few. In a greater number of cases
the pollen is found defective. However, dismissing all of these as the
exception, the rule is that self-sterility is due, as has been said,
to the lack of affinity between pollen and pistils produced on the
vines of some varieties.
Nature is helpful to the grape-grower in giving a guide to
self-fertility. The length of stamens is a fairly safe indication of
self-fertility. All grapes which are self-fertile bear flowers with
long stamens, although the latter are not a sure sign of
self-fertility, as a few varieties with long stamens are self-sterile.
On the other hand, short or recurved stamens are always associated
with complete or nearly complete self-sterility.
The remedy for self-sterility is inter-planting. Only the varieties
named in Classes I and II in the foregoing classification should be
planted alone. The sorts named in Classes III and IV must be planted
near other sorts which bloom at the same time in order that their
flowers may be cross-pollinated.
It is evident that the grape-grower must have some knowledge of the
relative time that grapes bloom, if he is to plant intelligently to
secure cross-pollination. The following table, taken from Bulletin 407
of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, shows the blooming
time of grapes at that Station. Variations due to location and season
must be expected, but within the bounds of the regions in which these
grapes are grown variations will be slight. When this table is used
for other regions than New York, it must be borne in mind that the
farther south, the longer the blooming season; the farther north, the
shorter the season.
_Blooming dates of grapes._
From three years' records, the average length of blooming season for
grapes was twenty days, nineteen days in 1912 and 1914 and twenty-two
days in 1913. The first date in the average year of 1912 was June 14,
while for 1914, it was June 7:
TABLE IV.--SHOWING BLOOMING TIME OF GRAPES
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account