ON EXTREME VARIATION 



will combine in the superlative degree the quali- 

 ties of gracefulness of vine of one grandparent 

 with the satisfactory arrangement of flowers of 

 the second grandparent and the brilliant white- 

 ness of blossoms of the third grandparent. 



It is then an obvious procedure to save the seed 

 of this individual, and while we must expect wide 

 variation among the plants grown from that seed, 

 there will almost certainly be some among them 

 that will reproduce the combined good qualities 

 of the parent, and further selection along precisely 

 the same line what I sometimes speak of as "line 

 breeding" will result in fixing of the type, so 

 that we shall have the variety, hitherto existing 

 only in our imagination, which we have all along 

 been seeking to produce. 



Moreover, not alone shall we have produced a 

 type which combines all the best qualities of the 

 different members of the original balloon-flowers, 

 but our new race will almost certainly present 

 these characters in markedly accentuated form. 

 The perfected balloon-flower will be more grace- 

 ful in form than the most graceful one of the orig- 

 inal colony. It will have its blossoms much more 

 artistically grouped on the stalk than any balloon- 

 flower that has hitherto been seen, and the color 

 of these blossoms will be cleared and more bril- 

 liant than those of any individual member of the 



[13] 



