The two lots
were allowed to fertilise themselves spontaneously: the crossed plants
produced a large number of capsules, whilst the self-fertilised produced
very few and poor ones. The seeds from eight of the capsules on the
crossed plants weighed .65 grain, whilst those from eight of the
capsules on the self-fertilised plants weighed only .22 grain; or as 100
to 34.
The crossed plants in the above three pots, as in almost all the
previous experiments, flowered before the self-fertilised. This occurred
even in the third pot in which the crossed seeds were sown four days
after the self-fertilised seeds.
Lastly, seeds of both lots were sown on opposite sides of a large pot in
which a Fuchsia had long been growing, so that the earth was full of
roots. Both lots grew miserably; but the crossed seedlings had an
advantage at all times, and ultimately attained to a height of 3 1/2
inches, whilst the self-fertilised seedlings never exceeded 1 inch. The
several foregoing experiments prove in a decisive manner the superiority
in constitutional vigour of the crossed over the self-fertilised plants.
In the three generations now described and taken together, the average
height of the ten tallest crossed plants was 8.19 inches, and that of
the ten tallest self-fertilised plants 5.29 inches (the plants having
been grown in small pots), or as 100 to 65.
In the next or fourth self-fertilised generation, several plants of a
new and tall variety appeared, which increased in the later
self-fertilised generations, owing to its great self-fertility, to the
complete exclusion of the original kinds.
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