ON DAISIES 



time to an experiment of a somewhat modified 

 character, it would be possible, in all probability, 

 to fix the type of any given race of Shasta daisies 

 in a single generation and, after another genera- 

 tion to test the result, to secure seed that would 

 reproduce plants duplicating the parent form as 

 closely as offspring ever duplicate their parents. 



The practical manner of working through 

 which this more rapid fixation of type would be 

 effected would consist in selecting among a large 

 company of seedlings grown from seed of a single 

 typical plant the individuals that represent the 

 parent form most closely. There are sure to be 

 some of these among the thousands. These, indeed, 

 are the ones that would be selected in any event 

 by the experimenter who was planning to fix a 

 type. 



Let the seed of each individual plant of these 

 type specimens be sown in a separate plot; and in 

 due course isolate each seedling so that each indi- 

 vidual plant is self-fertilized. We shall then find 

 that among the offspring of each plant there is 

 the utmost diversity, but it will appear, in the next 

 generation, that there are some plants that breed 

 true to type and others precisely similar in appear- 

 ance that produce diversified offspring. In other 

 words, the practical method of isolating each indi- 

 vidual through two generations would enable us 



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