The crossed capsules produced by the plant in Pot 2, Table
6/87, were plainly less fine than the self-fertilised capsules on the
same plant. In Pot 5 the one finest capsule was also a self-fertilised
one; but the seeds produced by the two crossed capsules together
exceeded in number those produced by the two self-fertilised capsules on
the same plant. Therefore as far as the flowers on the parent-plants are
concerned, a cross with pollen from a fresh stock did little or no good;
and I did not expect that the offspring would have received any benefit,
but in this I was completely mistaken.
The crossed and self-fertilised seeds from the two plants were placed on
bare sand, and very many of the crossed seeds of both sets germinated
before the self-fertilised seeds, and protruded their radicles at a
quicker rate. Hence many of the crossed seeds had to be rejected, before
pairs in an equal state of germination were obtained for planting on the
opposite sides of sixteen large pots. The two series of seedlings raised
from the parent-plants in the two Pots 2 and 5 were kept separate, and
when fully grown were measured to the tips of their highest leaves, as
shown in Table 6/88. But as there was no uniform difference in height
between the crossed and self-fertilised seedlings raised from the two
plants, their heights have been added together in calculating the
averages.
Pages:
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320