How Domestic Varieties Originate 227 



flower that bore them, gave the same proportion of plain 

 and variegated flowers." 



The second part of the proposition is equally as impor- 

 tant as the first, the fact that a plant which is uniform 

 in all its branches or parts is more likely to transmit its 

 general features than one which varies within itself. 

 It is well known that bean plants often produce beans 

 with various styles of markings on the same plant or even 

 in the same pod, yet these variations rarely, if ever, perpet- 

 uate themselves. The same remark may be applied to 

 variations in peas. These illustrations only add emphasis 

 to the fact that intending plant-breeders should give 

 greater heed than they usually do to the entire plant, 

 rather than confine their attention to the particular 

 part or organ which they desire to improve. 



At first thought, it may look as if these facts are 

 directly opposed to the prop6sition emphasized in the first 

 chapter that every branch of a plant is a potential auton- 

 omy, but it is really a confirmation of it. The variation 

 itself shows that the branch is measurably independent, 

 but it is not until the conditions or causes of the variation 

 are powerful enough to affect the entire plant that they 

 are sufficiently impressed upon the organization of the 

 plant to make their effects hereditary through seeds. 



There is an apparent exception to the law that the 

 character of the entire plant is more important than any 

 one organ or part of it, in the case of the seeds themselves. 

 That is, better results usually follow the sowing of large 

 and heavy seeds than of small or unselected seeds from the 

 same plant. This, however, does not affect the main 

 proposition, for the seed is in a measure independent of 



