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 WHY "JACK" GETS HIS FACE WASHED

HEN a bee pokes her nose into an alfala blossom she trips the stamen, which jumps up like a jack-in-the-box and scatters pollen on her breat; this she rubs against the sticky end of the pistill of this and other alfalfa blossoms and so fertilizes them. To produce new varieties, Uncle Sam's experts do this tripping with a pin and wash of the pollen with a rubber bulb such as dentists use do the flower cannot fertilize itself. Then Pollen is applied from the flower of the plant with which the crossing is to be made.

A and B before and after tripping, C, held by pin ; D, after washing; E,after pollination ; F, pin removed. Picture No. 2. shows how the sweet pea (A is crossed by the removal of stamens BC); D, after fertilizing; E, second morning; F, third morning.

Lettuce flower pollen can be removed with a small rubber tube attached to the garden hose. Such flowers as the single rose are easily crossed by the water method or by removing stamens (Sta.) and applying pollen to the pistill (P).