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Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882

"Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom"


Pot 2 : 52 4/8 : 32.
Pot 2 : 63 6/8 : 21.
Pot 3 : 57 4/8 : 53 4/8.
Pot 3 : 53 4/8 : 0.
Pot 3 : 50 6/8 : 0.
Pot 3 : 37 2/8 : 0.
Pot 4 : 64 4/8 : 34 4/8.
Pot 4 : 37 4/8 : 23 6/8.
Pot 4 : -- : 0.
Pot 5 : 53 : 0.
Pot 5 : 47 6/8 : 0.
Pot 5 : 34 6/8 : 0.
Total : 821.25 : 287.00.
The average height of the flower-stems of the sixteen crossed plants is
here 51.33 inches; and that of the eight self-fertilised plants, 35.87;
or as 100 to 70. But this difference in height does not give at all a
fair idea of the vast superiority of the crossed plants. These latter
produced altogether sixty-four flower-stems, each plant producing, on an
average, exactly four flower-stems, whereas the eight self-fertilised
plants produced only fifteen flower-stems, each producing an average
only of 1.87 stems, and these had a less luxuriant appearance. We may
put the result in another way: the number of flower-stems on the crossed
plants was to those on an equal number of self-fertilised plants as 100
to 48.
Three crossed seeds in a state of germination were also planted in three
separate pots; and three self-fertilised seeds in the same state in
three other pots. These plants were therefore at first exposed to no
competition with one another, and when turned out of their pots into the
open ground they were planted at a moderate distance apart, so that they
were exposed to much less severe competition than in the last case.


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