EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT. 291 



Estimating the total number of fruits of the original plant 

 bearing the first fasciated fruit found at 1,000, the one fruit 

 would give us 0.1% fasciated fruits, followed by Plant i, raised 

 under the most favorable conditions, with a percentage of i.i, 

 and its best offspring under very unfavorable conditions, with 



•9%. 



A similar parallel experiment was conducted in the greenhouse. 



The seeds from a 2-celled, 4-celled, and an 8-celled fruit of Plant 

 I were sown in separate boxes and some of the seedlings trans- 

 planted into other boxes and given plenty of room and care. 

 From the very beginning tlie plants grown from the 2-celled fruit 

 were much weaker and smaller than the others, while those from 

 the 8-celled fruit were the most robust. No fruit over 4 cells 

 was produced. The percentage of 2-, 3-, and 4-celled fruits by 

 offsprings of the different fruits were as follows : 



Parent Fruit. Aver. % 2-celled. Aver. % 3-c. Aver. %4-c. 



8-celled 42.6 48.6 8.85 



4-celled 51.4 40.1 8.40 



2-celled 66.35 29.6 4.0 



While these averages seem very consistent and instructive, the 

 variation in the individual plants was so great that they cannot 

 be considered conclusive. 



A curious fact was brought out in those plants which were 

 harvested at different intervals. Of 44 plants for which records 

 were taken for the three harvests of September 5, September 26, 

 and October 13, forty-two show the highest percentage of 2- 

 celled fruits in the last crop; thirty show the lowest percentage 

 of 2-celled fruits in the middle crop, and fourteen in the first 

 crop. The percentages in the different crops vary quite as much 

 as those for different plants. 



From the foregoing it is evident that the fluctuation within 

 the individual at different periods, the variation of fluctuation in 

 different offsprings of the same parents, and the variation in fluc- 

 tuation possibly due to differences in their parents, should be 

 studied separately, to arrive at any sound conclusions. 



