1879. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



187 



The difference would be a little less if we 

 allow for the broken plants and decayed pods 

 on the old stock. One plant of the old, ami 

 one plant of the crossetl stock died early and 

 produced no fruit. 



Six lots of .lO boans eafh wore taken at ran- 

 dom from the old stock and \\ci"!ic(l as t'ol- 



50 seeds - 210 grains. 



50 seeds - 210 grains. 



50 seeds - 220 grains. 



Average, 213|('; grains. 



The same number of seeds was taken from 

 the crossed stock and weighed as follows : 



50 seeds - 220 grains. 



•50 seeds - 219 grains. 



50 seeds - 200 grains. 



Total, 1,279 grains. 



The average weights of an equal number of 

 beans from each stock were nearly as one 

 hundred to seventy-nine in favor of old stock." 



[It scarcely follows that " crossing" has pro- 

 duced the results noted by Prof. Beal. Experi- 

 ments with corn by cutting off the tassel, have 

 shown that this alone was an advantage on the 

 crop and its progeny. Nutrition goes wholly 

 to the ear instead of being divided with the 

 tassel. If we could discover a certain law, 

 ejther by crossing or any other way, by which 

 the men who get 100 bushels of corn to the 

 acre, can get 153 bushels, it is certainly worth 

 demonstrating. But, how easy it is to attribute 

 results to wrong causes, is seen by the history of 

 the Bean in this question of cross-fertilization. 

 In 1857 Mr. Darwin evidently Ijelieved the Bean 

 could not be fertilized at all, except by exter- 

 nal aid. In his own experiment only those 

 fruited when protected from bees, that had the 

 wings of the flowers pressed down as a bee 

 presses them when entering the flower. But 

 the evidence that beans do seed just as freely 

 when no bees visit them is so conclusive that 

 the theory has been modified, and it now reads 

 •'cross-fertilize if you can, but self- fertilize if 

 you must, is nature's law for flowers." But 

 Prof. Beal assumes that because the plants 

 were grown together they must have been 

 "crossed by bees ;" and he has no other reason 

 for calling them "crossed stock." 



We find nothing '-below" showing where 

 ''the plants kept green the longest," unless we 

 are to infer it from the fact that on the 22d of 

 July ihere were agreater number of green pods 

 on one lot than on the other. The pods were 

 not, however, any larger in size in one case 

 than in the other, so that the result must be 

 sou.ght for in number, not in size. The beans 



not beiuir increased in size or weight, we have 

 <mly the number of beans as the result of cross- 

 ing Tliis result is that for every 100 j)ounds of 

 beans we get from seed uncrossed for nine 

 years, we may get 280 pounds from crossed 

 seed. 



Now if we remember the modern, and un- 

 doubted doctrine that the bean can fertilize 

 itself if neglected by the bee, and therefore 

 some niight have been neglected, and so 

 seeded from their own pollen; and further 

 that though the plants were mixed together 

 the chances would be more than equal that the 

 flower would have i>oUen from some other 

 flower on the same plant as from the flower of 

 a neighboring plant, at least three-fourths 

 more of "advantages" ought to be given to the 

 flgures, and we ou^ht to have nearly .375 pounds 

 for the crossed to€f)0 pounds of the non-crossed 

 13er acre. In view of such stupendous results 

 from crossed seed, Dr. Gray's remarks that the 

 experiments "are very neat and to the purpose" 

 have more than a poetical meaning. If we can 

 put four dollars in our pocket instead of one,, 

 there is a very prosy but substantial purpose 

 before us. 



The teleological part of the (piestion seems 

 equally foggy. It is assumed that it is an "ad- 

 vantage" to the race that the individual plant 

 should live a few days longer, and bear more 

 seeds, as the result of crossing over the fair 

 average duration of one not cro.ssed. It is a 

 well known law of nature that an extra ad- 

 vantage to tiie individual is rather at the ex- 

 pense of tlie race. But we do not discuss this 

 now. Wliat we desire is to ask cidtivators 

 whether we may really look for such flgures 

 from crossing as are indicated by Professor 

 Beal's flgures; or from any laws of nutrition 

 already well known. 



There were ten more uncrossed than crossed 

 beans failed to come up; but why should any 

 fresh beans, crossed or uncrossed, fail to grow? 

 And as in one case we have seventeen against 

 sixteen in the row experiment in favor of 

 the uncrossed beans, who knows how many 

 more of these ••advantageous" figures may 

 have been produced if the other thirty-two 

 beans had been allowed to grow?— En. G. M.] 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Frttiting of Wistaria sinensis.— In a note 

 on the fruiting of Wistaria sinensis in Europe, 



