VARIATION IN SEEDLINGS. 153 



VARIATION IN SEEDLINGS. 



1. As a general rule the seeds produced 

 by plants which have been fertilized by pollen 

 from another flower of the same species, that 

 is to say cross-fertilized, yield more vigorous 

 plants than the seeds from self-fertilized flowers. 

 When cross- fertilization takes place between 

 two plants, of the same species, but possessing 

 some different characters, the resulting plants 

 usually possess some of the characters of each 

 parent. Thus a plant which bears white 

 flowers, crossed with one which bears red 

 flowers, usually gives seedlings whose flowers 

 are, in various ways marked with red and 

 white. These facts are made use of in the pro- 

 duction of new varieties of plants, both econo- 

 mic and ornamental. A plant, possessing 

 someone desirable character, is crossed with 

 another plant of the same species, with some 

 other desirable character, and the seedlings 

 examined with care ; those showing the re- 

 quired characters in the greatest degree 

 are selected, and the others rejected. It must 

 be remembered that only closely allied plants, 

 plants of the same species, are as a rule 

 capable of being crossed with one anotfter, 

 Thus the various Kinds of orangr, and lime, 

 hibiscus, and croton, may be crushed with each 



