Striped Flowers 337 



ative trials of both methods, in order to discover 

 the true relation between the practice and the 

 results reached. Both should also be compared 

 with cultures on open plots, which is said to give 

 only 50^ of doubles. These methods of culture 

 are practiced wherever it is desired to produce 

 great quantities of seeds at a cheap rate. Such 

 trials would no doubt give an insight into the re- 

 lations of hereditary characters to the distribu- 

 tion of the food of the plant. 



A second point is the proportional increase of 

 the double-flowering seeds with age. If seed 

 is kept for two or three years, the greater part 

 of the grains will gradually die, and among the 

 remainder there is found on sowing, a higher 

 percentage of double ones. Hence we may in- 

 fer that the single-flowered seeds are shorter- 

 lived than the doubles, and this obviously points 

 to a greater weakness of the first. It is quite 

 evident that there is some common cause for 

 these facts and for the above cited experience, 

 that the first and best pods give more doubles. 

 Much, however, remains to be investigated be- 

 fore a satisfactory answer can be made to these 

 questions. 



A third point is the curious practice, called 

 by the French '' esimpler," and which consists 

 in pulling out the singles when very young. It 

 seems to be done at an age when the flower-buds 



