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XIX. On the Variegation of Plants, In a Letter to Richard An- 

 thony Salisbury, Esq, F,R.S. and L.S. by Thomas Andrew 

 Knight, Esq. F.R.S, and L.S. 



Read March 15, 1808. 



MY DEAR SIR, 



Thoug h variegated plants have long occupied the care and atten- 

 tion of the gardener, it does not appear that the peculiarities which 

 distinguish them have much attracted the attention of the natu- 

 ralist; and I am not acquainted with any experiments which have 

 been made either to discover the cause of variegation, or the effects 

 produced by it. I am therefore induced to trouble you with an 

 account of a few experiments which I have made on one species 

 of variegated plant, from which I obtained an unexpected and 

 somewhat interesting result. 



There is a kind of variegated vine, well known to gardeners 

 (the Aleppo), which affords variegated leaves and fruit; and as 

 the grape, though small, possesses a \ery high flavour, and much 

 richness, I wished to obtain some offspring either from its seeds 

 or farina, with the hope of procuring berries of larger size, and 

 at the same time of ascertaining whether its variegation would 

 be transferred to the offspring. 



"With this object in view I extracted the immature stamina of 

 the blossoms of the White Chasselas, and White Frontignac 

 vines; and at the proper subsequent period I introduced the 

 farina of the Aleppo vine: from this experiment I obtained, 



in 



