PEAS AND BEANS 137 



were simultaneously developed that differed 

 widely both from one another and from the 

 original stock. 



I found, for example, in the observation of 

 the early generations grown from the seed, that 

 some plants would produce four or even five 

 times as much as others. This habit of pro- 

 ductiveness was carried to the next generation 

 with a good deal of certainty. So it proved 

 possible, by careful selection, in three years, to 

 develop new forms of peas which produced regu- 

 larly four or five times as much as the average 

 production of the parent form. 



Of course, this quality of productivity was 

 combined with the various other qualities and 

 was manifested in the perfected pea that was 

 delivered along with the letter just quoted. 



But there were other qualities which obviously 

 could not enter into the combination, because of 

 variation in exactly the opposite direction from 

 the one in which we were developing the little 

 canning pea. Thus, for example, one variety 

 instead of having small peas had exceptionally 

 large ones. Another variety produced lozenge- 

 shaped peas. These seemed to be unusually 

 sweet, and as they were also among the most 

 productive, I made two strains of this selection 

 alone. One of these is a very large lozenge- 



