Thus the offspring from both unions
can be compared quite fairly, free from any doubt from the injurious
effects of an illegitimate union.
The plants on which I experimented had been raised during two successive
generations from spontaneously self-fertilised seeds produced by plants
under a net; and as the variety is highly self-fertile, its progenitors
in Edinburgh may have been self-fertilised during some previous
generations. Several flowers on two of my plants were legitimately
crossed with pollen from a short-styled common cowslip growing almost
wild in my orchard; so that the cross was between plants which had been
subjected to considerably different conditions. Several other flowers on
the same two plants were allowed to fertilise themselves under a net;
and this union, as already explained, is a legitimate one.
The crossed and self-fertilised seeds thus obtained were sown thickly on
the opposite sides of three pots, and the seedlings thinned, so that an
equal number were left on the two sides. The seedlings during the first
year were nearly equal in height, excepting in Pot 3, Table 6/94, in
which the self-fertilised plants had a decided advantage. In the autumn
the plants were bedded out, in their pots; owing to this circumstance,
and to many plants growing in each pot, they did not flourish, and none
were very productive in seeds. But the conditions were perfectly equal
and fair for both sides.
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