CORRELATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT PARTS. 



67 



The above observations are made only for varieties having solid colors, and 

 exceptions may be found, but none have yet been noted. 



In tulips the color of the flower may find a correspondence in the color 

 of the bulb. 



Lastly, let me quote from Mendel's observations on Pisum, as stated in 

 his list of characters selected for his famous Experiments in Plant Hybridiza- 

 tion.^ Among other characteristic differences in the varieties chosen for the 

 experiments he mentions those which relate : 



"To the difference in the colour of the seed-coat. This is either white, 

 with wdiich character white flowers are constantly correlated; or it is grey, 

 grey-brown, leather-brown, with or without violet spotting, in which case the 

 colour of the standards is violet, that of the wings purple, and the stem in 

 the axils of the leaves is of a reddish tint. The grey seed-coats become dark 

 brown in boiling water. 



"To the difference in the colour of the unripe pods. They are either light 

 to dark green, or vividly yellow, in which colouring the stalks, leaf-veins and 

 blossoms participate." 



Finally, on the question of correspondence in color of different parts of 

 the plant, as was the case concerning size, it may be said that the evidence 

 at hand, although not sufficient to support a general statement that such cor- 

 relation always exists, certainly gives strong enough indications that it may 

 be found to make the subject worthy of investigation. 



L. H. Bailey: Does the speaker find any correlation between the size of the leaves 

 and the quality of the fruit? which after all is what we are after. 



S. A. Beach: Not necessarily. I believe that we may find a correlation between 

 the texture, and the texture of the fruit. 



W. Bateson: In connection with this list of correlations which Mr. Beach has 

 cited, there is a curious paradoxical case in the pea, Pisum sativum; the purple axil is 

 correlated with a purple flower, while a white axil is correlated with a white flower. 

 Curiously enough, in the sweet pea that is not necessarily the case. There are deep purple 

 varieties of sweet pea which do not necessarily have a purple axil at all; but the 

 contrary is not the case; there is no very white sweet pea which has a purple axil. 

 I mention that as a paradoxical case which does not follow the same rule. 



N. E. Hansen: In the fall of 1898 I called on Mr. Gideon at his home in Ex- 

 celsior, Minneosta. For the benefit of Eastern people I will say that he has raised 

 more apple seedlings than any one else in the West. He said that it he had a 

 seedling in which the leaves were small he threw it away always, while any seedling 

 with large leaves he kept; he had found that the tendency was toward larger fruit. 



II. H. GrofF: I would like to reconcile the reasoning of Professor Beach that the 

 experimental worker is likely to overtake his more strenuous brother for the reason that 

 the latter's efforts will soon be overtaken by his later and greater activity. I under- 

 stand that that is the reasoning which he advocated, thereby sweeping away the experi- 

 ence of Mr. Burbank, Mr. Hays, and, I would like to add, myself. 



S. A. Beach: I had no idea of undervaluing the work of the practical plant 

 breeders; I believe in it thoroughly, and my only point was that I wished their assistance 

 in trying to secure all the information possible, so that we can get at all data possible, 

 classify it and put the whole business of plant breeding upon as nearly scientific a basis 

 as possible. When we have done that, I think we can make more rapid progress than 

 without it. 



'Mendel, Gregor. Reprint in Jour. Roy. Hort. Soc. XXVI. (1001) :6, 



