PEAS AND BEANS 155 



parents combined with the leaves and vine of the 

 other, in all possible combinations. 



As I have operated with about sixty varieties 

 of beans in the course of these experiments, it 

 will readily be surmised that the number of new 

 combinations that have been presented is almost 

 infinite. Among the hybrid stock can be found 

 beans of almost every color and combination of 

 colors, black, brown, blue, slate, yellow, green, 

 and white; mottled, striped, and otherwise vari- 

 ously marked and shaded. Moreover, if beans of 

 one color are selected and planted, as a rule all 

 the other colors appear in the progeny. 



One finds the offspring bearing beans that are 

 speckled, spotted, striped, and shaded in every 

 conceivable way. 



Yet beans that show this diversity of color may 

 be quite uniform as to size of the beans and time 

 of ripening, as well as in regard to the size and 

 general appearance of the plants on which they 

 grow. 



In other words, a certain number of characters 

 may have become fixed while other characters are 

 still variable. And here the obvious explanation 

 is supplied, at least provisionally, by the supposi- 

 tion that the plants in question are unmixed as to 

 their Mendelian factors for size and character of 

 vine, but retain mixed factors for color of seed. 



