54 Mendel's Experiments 



easily avoided. It is almost superfluous to mention that the 

 pods must remain on the plants until they are thoroughly 

 ripened and have become dried, since it is only then that 

 the shape and colour of the seed are fully developed. 



Expt. 3. Colour of the seed-coats. Among 929 plants 

 705 bore violet-red flowers and grey-brown seed-coats ; 224 

 had white flowers and white seed-coats, giving the proportion 

 3-15 to 1. 



Expt. 4. Form of pods. Of 1,181 plants 882 had them 

 simply inflated, and in 299 they were constricted. Resulting 

 ratio, 2 '95 to 1. 



Expt. 5. Colour of the unripe pods.- -The number of 

 trial plants was 580, of which 428 had green pods and 152 

 yellow ones. Consequently these stand in the ratio 2 '82 to 1. 



Expt. 6. Position of flowers. Among 858 cases 651 

 blossoms were axial and 207 terminal. Ratio, 3'14 to 1. 



Expt. 7. Length of stem. Out of 1,064 plants, in 787 

 cases the stem was long, and in 277 short. Hence a mutual 

 ratio of 2 '84 to 1. In this experiment the dwarfed plants 

 were carefully lifted and transferred to a special bed. This 

 precaution was necessary, as otherwise they would have 

 perished through being overgrown by their tall relatives. 

 Even in their quite young state they can be easily picked 

 out by their compact growth and thick dark-green foliage. 



If now the results of the whole of the experiments be 

 brought together, there is found, as between the number 

 of forms with the dominant and recessive characters, an 

 average ratio of 2 '98 to 1, or 3 to 1. 



The dominant character can have here a double signi- 

 fication viz. that of a parental-character, or a hybrid- 



