266 



The Journal of Heredity 



while the flowers of one plant were 

 fully double to the tip of the col- 

 umnar spike. The character was con- 

 fined to a small colony. 



The plants were quite well in flower 

 when the place was visited, but as 

 no seed was ripe, arrangements were 

 made with Mr. William Sinclair to 

 send me seed later in the season. He 

 sent a liberal quantity from the best 

 plants which had completely double 

 flowers. Unfortunately, this seed 

 germinated very poorly. 



Propagation of this seed was for a 

 time carried on at two places. At 

 Arlington Farm, Va., one lot of the 

 seed was sown and about one hun- 

 dred plants were potted off and grown 

 to maturity. To our chagrin only one 

 plant showed the double character pro- 

 nouncedly enough to suit us. 



At Chico, Calif., three successive 

 generations of seedlings were grown 

 in all. each from double plants in turn, 

 with similar results. Never over four 

 or five per cent of doubling was se- 

 cured and no more than one or two 

 plants that were considered fit to have. 

 Finally at Chico the stock was al- 

 lowed to volunteer for three or four 

 years in a waste place, when there 

 appeared several very good individuals 

 which have recently been propagated. 

 One of these is a comparatively large, 

 vigorous plant with deep maroon col- 

 ored rays extending to the apex of 

 the flower spike. The other is a 

 more dwarf spreading plant having 

 yellow rays with the doubling extend- 

 ing nearly to the top of the spike. 



It seemed useless, since so small a 

 percentage of plants came true, to at- 

 tempt to get the character fixed in the 

 seed. Indeed, the double plants seed 

 very poorly anyway, and no gain seem- 

 ed to be made in growing successive 

 generations from seed. 



The plants grow large and l)ushy in 

 California, and an attempt was conse- 

 quently made to propagate by layering. 



Earth was banked around the plants 

 in autumn, but no rooting took place. 

 After considerable effort, Mr. Henry 

 Klopfer has succeeded very satisfac- 

 torily in propagating from cuttings. 



The cuttings are made of terminal 

 growth late in the season, just before 

 frost, when the wood is fairly well 

 ripened. A heel is obtained when pos- 

 sible, but this is not imperative if the 

 cut is made just below a leaf. These 

 cuttings are set in sand in the bench 

 with a little bottom heat. Plenty of 

 water with perfect drainage is neces- 

 sary. The cuttings are discouraging 

 at first, for it is difficult to keep them 

 from wilting, but after a day or two 

 they begin to take up water and stiffen 

 up. They are handled much like 

 geranium cuttings. 



After about six weeks in sand, cal- 

 lousing has taken place and root action 

 started. In six or eight weeks the 

 cuttings are ready to be transferred 

 to pots. This should be done very 

 soon after root action starts for the 

 roots are very brittle and there are 

 only one or two of them going di- 

 rectly downward. If potting is long 

 delayed there is considerable loss ow- 

 ing to these characteristics. Common- 

 ly, about eighty per cent of the cut- 

 tings are successful, but this result 

 probably can be improved upon with 

 experience. 



For best results it is necessary to 

 produce young, vigorous plants each 

 year. Stocks carried o^•er or those 

 stunted and starved are not satisfac- 

 tory. In one instance plants with 

 perfectly doubled flowers had the dou- 

 bling reduced fully one-half the sec- 

 ond year when carried over winter 

 in a poorly tended and watered her- 

 baceous border. On the other hand, 

 plants of the same progeny maintained 

 the character when allowed to run un- 

 tended in fertile waste places even in 

 competition with the common weedy 

 annual grasses. 



