To judge from Table I, the pollen of sweet clover can be effective not
only under ordinary conditions but also when the flowers are wet with
rain or dew or when the stigma is so dry that in order to obtain water
from the papillæ the pollen must overcome a high resistance offered by
the sap of the papillæ, a resistance that may be equal to the osmotic
pressure of a 45 per cent solution of cane sugar. This is in accord
with results obtained under field conditions; as flowers that were
pollinated while rain was falling set seed satisfactorily, indicating
that a high percentage of humidity in the atmosphere does not check the
germination of the pollen sufficiently to interfere with fertilization.
Neither was the setting of seed affected when the soil about the roots
of plants was kept saturated with water, showing that the excessive
quantity of water in the stigmas resulting from an abundance of water
in the soil did not interfere with the fertilization of the flowers.
No definite counts were made of the germination of the pollen of
_Melilotus officinalis_ in the solutions of cane sugar of different
strengths, but observations show that the moisture requirement of the
pollen of this species is approximately the same as that of _Melilotus
alba_.
CROSS-POLLINATION AND SELF-POLLINATION OF SWEET CLOVER.
Results published by previous investigators on the cross-pollination
and self-pollination of sweet clover do not agree. The experiments of
Darwin (4) show that the flowers are self-pollinated to only a small
extent. On the other hand, Kirchner (18) and Kerner (17) find that
self-pollination occurs generally and that cross-pollination is not
necessary for the production of seed. However, all investigators agree
that many different kinds of insects are able to pollinate sweet clover.
Because of the diverse opinions as to the pollination of sweet clover,
a number of experiments were conducted to determine (1) whether insect
visitation was necessary to pollinate the flowers, (2) if necessary,
whether the flowers must be cross-pollinated, and (3) what insects are
active agents as pollinators of sweet clover.
ARTIFICIAL MANIPULATION OF SWEET-CLOVER FLOWERS.[2]
[2] The writers wish to acknowledge their indebtedness to Mr. Carl
Kurtzweil for assistance in conducting part of the field experiments at
Ames.
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