58 SWEET PEAS 



Society on the Conference on Plant Breeding in 1906, it appears 

 that it was during Mendel's sojourn at Vienna that he became 

 interested in the problems of hybridisation, for he afterwards 

 returned to Briinn and at once began in the gardens of the Cloister 

 a remarkable series of experiments. The first series was in con- 

 nection with the edible Pea, and so closely is the subject of his 

 early experiments related to the Sweet Pea that something more 

 than brief mention of his work is appropriate here. We can 

 picture Mendel tending his plants and making exact notes upon 

 their characters, for he was a keen observer. As a result of these 

 experiments Mendel discovered certain laws that govern the results 

 of cross-breeding. As to how far these laws can be applied to 

 Sweet Peas, a great deal still remains to be found out. Mendel 

 worked continuously with Peas, and followed their behaviour 

 through many generations. As an example of Mendel's law, his 

 experiments in crossing green-seeded with yellow-seeded Peas are 

 tabulated on the opposite page. It should be mentioned that both 

 types were in the first place taken from true stocks, also that the 

 results are the same whichever parent is made the seed-bearer. 



From this table it will be seen that when once the character is pure 

 it will continue to breed pure; in other words, it is fixed. Mendel 

 obtained similar results by crossing other pairs of characters, for 

 instance, round or wrinkled seed, tall and dwarf growing kinds, and, 

 singularly enough, white and purple flowers. It is not the syste- 

 matic relationship of the two parents chosen that decides whether 

 the result in the first generation is to be entirely dominant, but 

 only the occurrence of the same quality, in the one in an active, and 

 in the other in an inactive, condition. Hence, whenever this relation 

 occurs in the parents it is the active or the dominant character 

 which is alone revealed in the cross. 



Balanced and Unbalanced Crosses. We can now proceed 

 to see how far these laws of heredity can be, or have been, 

 applied to Sweet Peas. Mr. Biffen asserts that successive 

 generations of Sweet Peas follow the Mendelian laws in regard 

 to certain pairs of characters, while, on the other hand, most 

 raisers of Sweet Peas are agreed that it is impossible to foretell the 

 nature of a cross with any degree of certainty from its parents. 

 Messrs. Mackereth, of Ulverston, announce that they hope soon to 

 bring some startling results to light bearing upon Mendel's laws 

 which will simplify the process of fixing Sweet Peas. With these 

 somewhat conflicting statements before us it may be of interest to 



