NATIONAL COUNCIL OF HORTICULTURE 35 



kept, and for several seasons a brief record of each seedling blooming, 

 as regards doubleness and color. These records cover 2,170 separate 

 plants and during a season of confinement to the house were tabulated 

 and summarized in various ways. It should be noted that the records 

 did not cover the entire number of plants from any cross except in a 

 few cases, as sickly or plainly undesirable forms were at once pulled 

 up, and many had not bloomed when freezing weather came on. With 

 these exceptions the notes are believed to cover the ground reasonably 

 well, and to be fairly accurate. No distinction was made between those 

 bursting from over doubleness and those from malformation. 



SINGLENESS OR DOUBLENESS. 



733 individuals (one season's crosses) gave singles 161 



Commercial doubles 361 



Over double or bursters 211 



1437 individuals gave singles 385 



Commercial 706 



Bursters 557 



2170 individuals gave singles 546 



Commercial 1067 



Bursters 557 



It will be noted that the sum of the singles and bursters approxi- 

 mates quite closely the total of the commercials. 



The earlier crosses seemed to produce more singles and less burst- 

 ers. The crosses made December 10 to January 1 where plants were 

 at their best, before feeding commenced, produced very nearly an 

 equal number of singles and bursters, with the commercials showing 

 a slight increase over the sum of the other two. The late crosses 

 showed the bursters in excess of the singles and the early and late 

 crosses showed the sum of the singles and bursters in excess of the 

 commercials. 



The above should not be considered as at all conclusive, as the 

 mid-season crosses were very much in excess in number of the early 

 and late ones. 



Crosses of one female by various males and the reverse, when 

 there were 100 or more individuals, did not vary largely from the pro- 

 portions of the 2,170 individuals noted before. 



COLOR. 



A large number of tabulations were made and much care was 

 exercised in making them, but they all lead back to one conclusion, 

 that is: the color of the seedling is a matter depending entirely upon 

 the individual potency of the parents. The most potent parents as to 

 color were those which were the result of many generations of previous 

 breeding to color. Some reproduced their color better as males, others 

 as females, and others equally well in either case. Special search was 



