386 Ever-sporting Varieties 



can be inferred that the sensitive period of the 

 anomaly is limited for the terminal flower-head, 

 to the first few weeks of the life of the young 

 plants. The secondary heads manifestly leave 

 this period at a somewhat later stage. 



In order to prove the accuracy of this con- 

 clusion I have tried to injure the anomalies 

 after the expiration of the first six or seven 

 weeks. I deprived them of their leaves, and 

 damaged them in different ways. I succeeded 

 in making them very weak and slender, without 

 being able to diminish the number of the super- 

 numerary carpels. The proportionality of the 

 size of the central fruit and the development of 

 the surrounding crown can often be modified or 

 even destroyed by this means, and the apparent 

 exceptions from this rule, which are often ob- 

 served, may find their explanation in this way. 



In the second place I have tried to change the 

 development of the anomaly during the period 

 of sensibility, and even in the last part of it. 

 This experiment succeeded fully when carried 

 out within the fifth or sixth week after the be- 

 ginning of the germination. As means of in- 

 jury I transplanted the young plants. To this 

 end I sowed my seeds in pans in unmanured soil, 

 planted them out in little pots with richly pre- 

 pared earth, grew them in these during a few 

 weeks and afterwards transferred them to the 



