FLOWER POSSIBILITIES 221 



row may present greater difficulties. Not, in- 

 deed, that any new principle is involved, but 

 merely that a longer series of experiments may 

 be required to produce the coveted double flower. 

 The start must be made here just as in the other 

 cases, by searching among the hundreds or thou- 

 sands of plants for one that bears flowers hav- 

 ing even a single extra petal. 



Seed of this plant being sown, it is likely that 

 among the offspring there will be some that pro- 

 duce not merely one extra petal, but possibly 

 two or three. 



THE THREE REQUISITES 



Now you are on the road to success. Thence- 

 forward it is only a matter of time, skill, and 

 patience the three essential requisites of plant 

 development combined with the dealing with 

 large numbers of individuals. 



Exceptionally there may suddenly appear a 

 seedling producing flowers that are fully double. 

 In such a case, if the truth could be known, it 

 would probably appear that some of the ances- 

 tors of the seedling had produced perhaps 

 generations back a double or partially double 

 flower. Breeding from a double rose or carna- 

 tion, almost all the seedlings revert to a single 

 or semi-double form. 



