220 Atkinson. 



characters are a blend. Certain flower structures are combined in such 

 a way as to produce an inefficient reproductive machine and sterility 

 results, although both pollen and egg cell are efficient in other com- 

 binations. This blend hybrid may be compared to a man who inherits 

 from his ancestors talents for carpentering, horse shoeing, engineer- 

 ing, etc., and tries to cultivate all. He attains excellence in none, 

 and does not reach the high state of efficiency in the service of society 

 nor in personal success that he might have reached had he cultivated 

 only one of these talents, or a harmonious group of business, intellec- 

 tual and social qualities. He becomes merely a "jack of all trades". 

 Hybrida pycnella on the other hand, while "inheriting" in its egg cell 

 all of the same characters, sorts out an effective combination of dis- 

 positions or "talents", which do not blend, but occupy their full measure 

 of space and character. It cultivates these, and reaches a- very high 

 state of efficiency in its reproductive structures for it possesses a very 

 high degree of fertility. The same can be said of hybrida tortuosa 

 which sorts out different characters from the same inheritance in its 

 egg cells, characters which are complementary to those selected by 

 hybrida pycnella. 



New or changed qualities in hybrida pycnella, nutella 

 and tortuosa. In addition to the morphological characters which 

 appear to have been derived from the parents without modification, 

 other than that of blending or recombination, some interesting changes, 

 progressive or retrogressive, have been observed in hybrida pycnella, 

 nutella and tortuosa. In the Fi segregate hybrid, hybrida pycnella, the 

 most striking change which has thus far been noted is the earliness in 

 maturity of the annual forms. It has been observed that nutans matures 

 earlier than pycnocarpa. Pycyiella, which derives its habit from nutans, 

 is an early maturing form. In fact in the annual condition it matures 

 far earlier than annual forms of nutans or pycnocarpa. In the summer 

 of 1913, many of the earlier annual forms of pycnella were mature early 

 in August. The dry season probably had some influence in hastening 

 the maturity of these early individuals, but annual individuals of nutans 

 continued to blossom until the middle of September. Stem formation 

 and flowering begins much earlier in the annual forms of hybrida pyc- 

 nella than in the annual forms of nutans even when the seedlings are 

 of the same age and transplanted to the garden on the same date. 

 Seeds of hybrida pycnella sown directly in the garden in April, the soil 

 tilled thereafter, produced about 50 °/o early flowering forms which 



