It is many times a tedious operation, however, to pull out the anthers without crushing them, and thus distribute some of the pollen. A surer and better plan with most flowers is to cut off the floral envelopes and the stamens near the base with a pair of small and sharp-pointed scissors which cut well at the point. _A_ in Fig. 90 shows the point at which this cut should be made in the fuchsia. With a little practice, one can cut off the parts quickly. Fig. 96 shows a tomato-flower after it has been emasculated in this fashion. Fig. 97 represents two flowers of _Nicotiana affinis_, one of which has been cut. One of the most important features of this method is the marking of the fruits which results in all species in which the calyx persists. The calyx, of course, does not develop and the crossed fruit can be distinguished at once, even though the label is lost. The tomato fruit in Fig. 98 lacks entirely the long leaf-like calyx lobes at the base. Fig. 99 shows upon the right a gooseberry fruit, of which the flower was cut, while that on the left illustrates an untreated fruit with the long persistent calyx. This marking of the calyx is useful in all the pomaceous fruits, like apples and pears, and even in capsular fruits, like phloxes and petunias, in which the calyx lobes remain green. [Illustration: Fig. 96. Emasculated tomato-flower.] [Illustration: Fig. 97. Nicotiana affinis.] As soon as the flower is emasculated it must be securely tied up with a bag, to exclude pollen, as seen in Fig. 100. Netting of any kind is not safe in ordinary practice, for the pollen grains are small enough to pass through it. It often happens that the flower-stem is not strong enough to hold the bag, nor large enough to allow the bag to be puckered tightly about it. In such cases, all the remaining flowers in the cluster should be removed and the bag should be tied over a portion of the branch. The branch will often need to be cut off to accommodate the bag. If there are many large leaves about the flowers, part of them will need to be cut off. It is always a good practice to emasculate two or three flowers in the cluster--or all those of the same age--in order to multiply the chances of success. If flowers of different ages are emasculated, however, the bag will have to be removed several times to apply the pollen as the stigmas mature, and the chances of success will be lessened, for the flowers should be handled as little as possible. [Illustration: Fig. 98. Crossed tomato.]