THE LARKSPUR 219 



shrub about four feet in height, and in the fall 

 it bears a mass of beautiful single golden flowers 

 about the size of the French marigold. 



This is one of the handsomest shrubs of this 

 sort, and although I think it has not yet been 

 introduced, it deserves a place in every garden, 

 if as has not yet been proved it will stand the 

 colder climate. 



My experiments with the marigold were 

 mostly conducted many years ago, chiefly along 

 the lines cf crossing the French and African 

 races and this new Arizona perennial species. 

 In addition to their practical horticultural re- 

 sults, the experiments gave some interesting 

 illustrations of hereditary influence. 



In particular it was observed that when the 

 double marigolds were crossed with the peren- 

 nial single species, above mentioned, all the 

 hybrids were single, as would naturally be 

 expected, for most wild plants have their tend- 

 encies in all directions more fixed by endless 

 uniform environment instead of the ever- 

 changing environment of cultivated plants. 



It is interesting to recall that precisely the 

 opposite result was produced in hybridizing the 

 poppies. In that case the union of an annual 

 and a perennial poppy produced hybrids, all of 

 which were perennials and for the same reason; 



