44 2 ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF PLANTS. 



purple seedling gave purple, marbled, maroon, and lilac 

 flowers, all of superior quality. 



Now, it might appear at first sight that the above 

 results militate against the theory of improvement by 

 selection merely. But it is not really so. It must be 

 told that the above is a record of general results only. 

 In most cases few or many individuals might have been 

 selected in advance of the parent. Let it further be 

 remembered that this is the result of one year's growing 

 only, and it certainly proves that a variation cannot always 

 be fixed by a single effort, which we are perfectly free to 

 admit. It shows also the tendency of the mass of seedling 

 plants raised from cultivated or advanced varieties to 

 revert to a less civilised state. It shows further, that a 

 variation once obtained, new ground once broken, often 

 proves a fertile source of further variation and advance- 

 ment But of this I shall give an example by-and-by 

 Now I do not think that the variation in colour recorded 

 in some of the above cases was due to fertilisation either 

 by insects or other instrumentality. But it might be so. 

 I merely express an opinion on this point, founded on the 

 fact that the progeny of some varieties varied but slightly 

 throughout successive annual sowings, whereas that of 

 others varied greatly. The inference I should draw would 

 be, that some variations are capable of a more rapid 

 development, some are more sportive, and some more 

 readily fixed than others. 



It will be further inferred from the above facts that 

 the finest flowers do not always produce the finest 

 progeny. And I have found this circumstance corro- 

 borated in dealing with other plants. Certain individual 

 sorts furnish a fine brood ; others, apparently equally good 

 sorts, an indifferent brood. Sometimes a flower or fruit 

 of indifferent quality will produce a high-class progeny, 

 and a high-class flower or fruit an inferior progeny. The 

 whole question is, I admit, beset with difficulties, and 

 offers a fine field for observation and experiment. The 



