﻿394 
  Ever-sporting 
  Varieties 
  

  

  as 
  2.5 
  cub. 
  cm. 
  per 
  square 
  meter. 
  On 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  

   beds 
  I 
  left 
  all 
  the 
  germinating 
  plants 
  untouched 
  

   and 
  nearly 
  500 
  of 
  them 
  flowered, 
  but 
  among 
  

   them 
  360 
  were 
  almost 
  without 
  pistillody, 
  and 
  

   only 
  10 
  had 
  full 
  crowns. 
  In 
  the 
  other 
  bed 
  I 
  

   weeded 
  away 
  more 
  than 
  half 
  of 
  the 
  young 
  

   plants, 
  leaving 
  only 
  some 
  150 
  individuals 
  and 
  got 
  

   32 
  with 
  a 
  full 
  crown, 
  nearly 
  100 
  with 
  half 
  crowns 
  

   and 
  only 
  25 
  apparently 
  without 
  monstrosity. 
  

  

  These 
  figures 
  are 
  very 
  striking. 
  From 
  the 
  

   same 
  quantity 
  of 
  seed, 
  in 
  equal 
  spaces, 
  by 
  sim- 
  

   ilar 
  exposure 
  and 
  treatment 
  I 
  got 
  10 
  fully 
  de- 
  

   veloped 
  instances 
  in 
  one 
  and 
  32 
  in 
  the 
  other 
  

   case. 
  The 
  weeding 
  out 
  of 
  supernumerary 
  indi- 
  

   viduals 
  had 
  not 
  only 
  increased 
  the 
  percentage 
  

   of 
  bright 
  crowns, 
  but 
  also 
  their 
  absolute 
  num- 
  

   ber 
  per 
  square 
  meter. 
  So 
  the 
  greatest 
  number 
  

   of 
  anomalies 
  upon 
  a 
  given 
  space 
  may 
  be 
  ob- 
  

   tained 
  by 
  taking 
  care 
  that 
  not 
  too 
  many 
  plants 
  

   are 
  grown 
  upon 
  it 
  : 
  any 
  increase 
  of 
  the 
  number 
  

   beyond 
  a 
  certain 
  limit 
  will 
  diminish 
  the 
  prob- 
  

   ability 
  of 
  obtaining 
  these 
  structures. 
  The 
  most 
  

   successful 
  cultures 
  may 
  be 
  made 
  after 
  the 
  max- 
  

   imum 
  number 
  of 
  individuals 
  per 
  unit 
  of 
  area 
  

   has 
  been 
  determined. 
  A 
  control-experiment 
  

   was 
  made 
  under 
  the 
  same 
  conditions 
  and 
  with 
  

   the 
  same 
  seed, 
  but 
  allowing 
  much 
  less 
  for 
  

   the 
  same 
  space. 
  I 
  sowed 
  only 
  1 
  cu. 
  cm. 
  on 
  my 
  

   bed 
  of 
  2 
  square 
  meters, 
  and 
  thereby 
  avoided 
  

  

  