﻿490 
  Mutations 
  

  

  chances 
  of 
  success 
  for 
  the 
  experimental 
  worker. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  second 
  half 
  of 
  the 
  seventeenth 
  century 
  

   (1671), 
  my 
  countryman, 
  Abraham 
  Hunting, 
  pub- 
  

   lished 
  a 
  large 
  book 
  on 
  garden 
  plants 
  with 
  many 
  

   beautiful 
  figures. 
  It 
  is 
  called 
  " 
  Waare 
  Oeffen- 
  

   inge 
  der 
  Planten,' 
  or 
  " 
  True 
  Exercises 
  With 
  

   Plants." 
  The 
  descriptions 
  pertain 
  to 
  ordinary 
  

   typical 
  species 
  in 
  greater 
  part, 
  but 
  garden- 
  

   varieties 
  receive 
  special 
  attention. 
  Among 
  

   these 
  a 
  long 
  list 
  of 
  double 
  flowers 
  are 
  to 
  be 
  seen. 
  

   Double 
  varieties 
  of 
  poppies, 
  liverleaf 
  (Hepa- 
  

   tica), 
  wallflowers 
  (Cheiranthus), 
  violets, 
  Cal- 
  

   tha, 
  Althaea, 
  Colchicum, 
  and 
  periwinkles 
  

   (Vinca)^ 
  and 
  a 
  great 
  many 
  other 
  common 
  flow- 
  

   ers 
  were 
  already 
  in 
  cultivation 
  at 
  that 
  time. 
  

  

  Other 
  double 
  forms 
  have 
  been 
  since 
  added. 
  

   Many 
  have 
  been 
  introduced 
  from 
  Japan, 
  espe- 
  

   cially 
  the 
  Japanese 
  marigold, 
  Chrysanthemum 
  

   indicum. 
  Others 
  have 
  been 
  derived 
  from 
  Mexi- 
  

   co, 
  as 
  for 
  instance 
  the 
  double 
  zinnias. 
  The 
  

   single 
  dahlias 
  only 
  seem 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  originally 
  

   known 
  to 
  the 
  inhabitants 
  of 
  Mexico. 
  They 
  

   were 
  introduced 
  into 
  Spain 
  at 
  about 
  1789, 
  and 
  

   the 
  first 
  double 
  ones 
  were 
  produced 
  in 
  Louvain, 
  

   Belgium, 
  in 
  1814. 
  The 
  method 
  of 
  their 
  origin 
  

   has 
  not 
  been 
  described, 
  and 
  probably 
  escaped 
  

   the 
  originators 
  themselves. 
  But 
  in 
  historical 
  

   records 
  we 
  find 
  the 
  curious 
  statement 
  that 
  it 
  

   took 
  place 
  after 
  three 
  years' 
  work. 
  This 
  indi- 
  

  

  