----------+-------+-------------------------+--------+---------+---------
The results in Table V show that an average of 0.37 pod to the raceme
was obtained from the plants protected from visitation by all insects
during the flowering period. As the racemes of _Melilotus alba_ will
average approximately 50 flowers each, less than 1 per cent of them
set seed without being pollinated by insects. The results obtained in
the cages in which only night-flying insects had access to the flowers
show that these insects pollinate sweet clover to a slight extent,
but that the number of pods produced by them is so few that it may be
assumed that these flowers would have been pollinated by day-flying
insects. This assumption is borne out by the results obtained in the
cages where only day-flying insects had access to the flowers, as the
results obtained in these cages at Arlington and Ames, respectively,
are approximately the same as those obtained on the plants subject
to insect visitation at all times. It will be noted that the yield
of seed on the plants visited by insects at Ames is much higher than
that of the plants subjected to insect visits during the same period
at Arlington. This difference in seed yield may be attributed to the
fact that isolated plants were used in the experiments at Ames, and
at Arlington the experiments were conducted with plants growing under
field conditions.
RELATION OF THE POSITION OF THE FLOWERS ON MELILOTUS ALBA PLANTS TO
SEED PRODUCTION.
Observations of sweet-clover plants grown under cultivation, and
especially when the stands were thick, showed that the flowers of the
racemes on the upper and exposed branches produced a larger percentage
of seed than those on the lower branches which were less exposed. It is
thought by some that the failure of the flowers on the lower racemes
to be fertilized is due to shading; but the results obtained in the
cheesecloth and glass covered cages do not warrant this belief, as it
is doubtful whether the shading of the flowers on the lower racemes is
more than that caused by the cheesecloth. It is probably the lack of
pollination that causes this decrease in seed production on the lower
branches of plants growing close together, as a vast number of flowers
open each day on portions of the plants which are exposed directly to
visitation by insects and are therefore more accessible to them.
In order to obtain information upon the number of flowers that produce
seed on the upper and lower portions, respectively, of sweet-clover
plants when grown under field conditions and where the stand contained
four to five plants to the square foot, a number of racemes were
labeled on different portions of the plants at Ames in 1915 and 1916.
When the pods were partly mature, records were made of the number of
flowers that produced pods. The results obtained are given in Table VI.
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