444 ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF PLANTS. 



by-and-by. Of Zonal Pelargoniums I was fortunate 

 enough to become the possessor of a remnant of stock left 

 by the late Mr Donald Beaton ; and while many of the 

 variations and improvements that have issued from my 

 nurseries are the result of mere selection, others have been 

 carefully and systematically bred. The Polyanthus is a 

 flower with which I am now carrying on experiments, 

 with the view of rendering it more available in spring 

 gardening. Four years ago I selected certain colours 

 from a bed of mixed seedlings with the view of saving 

 the seeds of each separately, hoping in time to be able 

 to reproduce each colour true from seed. The first sowing 

 produced all colours from each variety, and while sub- 

 sequent sowings have done the same, yet each successive 

 sowing brings a larger proportion of the colour of the 

 parent ; and I do not doubt that ultimately each variety 

 will become fixed, that is, will reproduce itself true in 

 colour from the seed. 



With regard to the progress of improvement after 

 selection, it would appear that the greatest progress does 

 not take place when the variation is young. The most 

 marked progress from a cultivator's point of view seems to 

 occur when the variation has been some little time under 

 cultivation, but before it loses the extra vigour not 

 uncommon to selected variations. A case illustrative of 

 this view has recently come under my observation. It is 

 that of a plant of the Primula sinensis, which I recently 

 exhibited before the Royal Horticultural Society under 

 the name of Waltham White. It is a white-flowered 

 variety with red leaf-stalks (the white-flowered variety has 

 commonly greenish white leaf-stalks). The growth is 

 exceedingly vigorous, the plant bearing a huge pyramidal 

 truss of large pure white flowers of great substance. It is, 

 in fact, a giant among Primulas, and a giant of goodly 

 and fair proportions. Now nothing could have been more 

 unpromising than the original variation from which this 

 grand result has been obtained. It was a coarse weedy- 



