FLOWER POSSIBILITIES 199 



slightly crinkled at the edges. This slight 

 almost insignificant variation suggested a possi- 

 bility that further variation in the same direction 

 might take place if the plants were educated in 

 the right way. So I transferred the plant with 

 crinkled leaves to my home grounds, and in due 

 time gathered its exceedingly diminutive black 

 seeds. 



When the little plants that grew from these 

 seeds the next season were carefully examined, I 

 observed that some of them had leaves slightly 

 more crenated or crinkled than the others. 

 So even before the plants made much growth 

 I was able to weed out half of them, as show- 

 ing no evidence of progress in the desired 

 direction. 



When the plants were still larger, but before 

 any flowers appeared, about half of the remain- 

 der were pulled up; and later in the season still 

 others were discarded that had shown the 

 crinkled condition at an earlier period but did 

 tend to carry it well as they advanced in age. 



Of the many thousands with which I had 

 started in the spring, only a handful remained 

 toward seed time. And at last a single one 

 among these was chosen as presenting leaves that 

 from the point of view of the experiment were 

 best. 



