160 A Defence of Menders 



Laxton*. The whole story is replete with interest, and as 

 it not only carries us on somewhat beyond the point 

 reached by Mendel, but furnishes an excellent illustration 

 of how his principles may be applied, I give the whole 

 account in Laxton's words, only altering the paragraphing 

 for clearness, and adding a commentary. The paper ap- 

 pears in Jour. Hort. Soc. N.S. in. 1872, p. 10, and very 

 slightly abbreviated in Jour, of Hort. xvm. 1870, p. 86. 

 Some points in the same article do not specially relate to 

 this section, but for simplicity I treat the whole together. 



It is not too much to say that two years ago the 

 whole of this story would have been a maze of be- 

 wildering confusion. There are still some points in it 

 that we cannot fully comprehend, for the case is one of far 

 more than ordinary complexity, but the general outlines 

 are now clear. In attempting to elucidate the phenomena 

 it will be remembered that there are no statistics (those 

 given being inapplicable), and the several offspring are 

 only imperfectly referred to the several classes of seeds. 

 This being so, our rationale cannot hope to be complete. 

 Laxton states that as the seeds of peas are liable to change 

 colour with keeping, for this and other reasons he sent to 

 the Society a part of the seeds resulting from his experi- 

 ment before it was brought to a conclusion. 



" The seeds exhibited were derived from a single experiment. 

 Amongst these seeds will be observed some of several remarkable 

 colours, including black, violet, purple-streaked and spotted, 

 maple, grey, greenish, white, and almost every intermediate tint, 

 the varied colours being apparently produced on the outer coat 

 or envelope of the cotyledons only. 



* It will be well known to all practical horticulturalists that 

 Laxton, originally of Stamford, made and brought out a large number 

 of the best known modern peas. The firm is now in Bedford. 



