ON SOME COMMON FAVORITES 



some instances of the mingling of different colors 

 in the same flower, notably with some of the dah- 

 lias. But our attention has been called to no 

 flower that mingles the colors in quite so anom- 

 alous a way as is characteristic with the four- 

 o'clocks. For these blossoms, seemingly unable 

 to decide between different colors, have hit upon 

 a compromise of arranging the colors in definite 

 stripes, which give the tubular corollas a very 

 curious and characteristic appearance. 



In a lot of seedlings, supposedly of the same 

 variety, the stripes may come in various widths of 

 white, crimson, and yellow. Even when the seed 

 is saved from a single plant, there will be great 

 variation among the seedlings, in some the wide 

 white stripes predominating, in others the crim- 

 son, and in yet others the yellow. Again, some of 

 the flowers may come pure white, or yellow, or 

 crimson, or pink, quite without stripes; or perhaps 

 half of the blossoms on a given plant will be one 

 color and half another. 



It is obvious that a plant showing such wide 

 variation does not call for hybridization to stim- 

 ulate variation. The mingling of hereditary 

 strains is already sufficiently complex, and you 

 will find quite sufficient occupation in attempting 

 to sort out new races of a good color or combina- 

 tion of colors, and in fixing a dozen of them so 



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