On the Fecundation of Vegetables. A^a 



that thofe into whofe blofToms the farina had not been introduced, the feed reir.ai::ed 

 nearly as they were before the blonbm expanded, and in that (late they withered. Thofe 

 in the other pods attained maturity, but were not in any fenfible degree different frorti 

 thofe afforded by other plants of the fame variety; owing, I imagine, to the external 

 covering of the feed (as I h;<ve found in other plants) being fiirnifbcd entirely by the 

 female. In the fucceeding fpring the difference, however, became extremely obvious ; 

 for the plants from tliem arofe with e.xceffive luxuriaiice and the colour of their leaves 

 and ftems clearly indicated that they had ail exchaiiged their whitenefs for the colour of 

 the male parent ; tl)e feeds produced in autumn were dark grey. By introducing the 

 farina of another white variety (or in fome inftances by fimple culture) I found this 

 colour was eafily difcharged and a numerous variety of new kinds produced, many of 

 which were in fize and every other nfpefl; much fnpprior to the original white kind, and 

 grew with exceflive luxuriance, fome of them attaining the height of more than twelve 

 feet. I had frequent occafion to obfcrve in this plant a ftronger tendency to produce 

 purple bloffums ; and coloured feeds than white ones ; for when I iiitrodiiced the farina 

 of a purple bloffjm into* white one, the whole of the feeds in the fucceeding year be- 

 came coloured ; but when I eidedvoured to difcharge this coioiir by reverfing the pro- 

 cefs, a part only of them afforded plants wiih^vhite bloffoms^; this part fometimes occu- 

 pying oite end of the pod, and being at other times irregularly intermixed with thofe, 

 which, when fown, retained their colour. It may, perhaps, be fuppofed that (bmething 

 might depend on the quantity of farina employe! ; but I n-'ver could difc' vr in t'lis or 

 any other experiment in which fuperfcetation did not take place, that the largeft or fmalleft 

 quantity of farina afforded any difference in the effeft produced. 



The diffnnilarity I obfejved in the offspring afforded by different kinds of farina in 

 thefe experiments, pointed out to me an eafy method ot afcertaining whether fuperfce- 

 tation (the exiftence of which has been admitted among animals) could alfo take place 

 in the vegetable world. For as the offspring of a white ptea is always white, unlefs the 

 farina of a coloured kind be mtroduced into the bloffom, and as the colour of the grey 

 one is always transferred to its off^pring though the female be white, it readily occurred 

 to me, that if the farina of both were nxingled or applied at the fame moment the off- 

 fpring of each could be eafily difiinguifhed. 



My firfl experiment was not altogether fuccefsful ; for tlie offspring of five pods (the 

 whole which efcaped the birds) received tlieir colour from the coloured male. There 

 was, however, a ftrong refemblance to the other male in the growth and charafter of 

 more than one of the plants ; and the feeds of feveral in the autumn very clofely re- 

 fembled it in every thing but colour. In this experiment I ufed the farina of a white 

 pea, which poffeffed the remarkable property of fhrivelling exceffively when ripe ; and 

 in the fecond year I obtained white feeds from the grey ones above mentioned, perfeftly 



fimilar 



