20 BULLETIN" 306, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the progeny through seed and whether the character is changed by 

 vegetative propagation. The results thus far show that the first- 

 generation plants secured from seed of cross-pollinated selected 

 individuals display the characteristic of the maternal parent with 

 regard to alkaloid productivity. This condition is generally true 

 at all stages of growth during a season and also for at least two suc- 

 cessive seasons. Close pollination of the parent plant has shown 

 only a moderate influence on the transmission of this characteristic. 



Second-generation plants from cross-pollination have been grown 

 at Arlington, Va., Madison, Wis., and Timmonsville, S. C, and at all 

 three stations they have displayed the relative alkaloid-producing 

 tendencies evident in the original parent plant and the generation 

 preceding. 



While the plants at the different localities showed a parallel rela- 

 tionship toward each other, there was considerable difference in the 

 general quantity of alkaloids produced. Thus, in the case of Madison 

 and Arlington, where two pickings were made at fairly corresponding 

 stages of growth, it was found that the Madison plants yielded more 

 alkaloids than those at Arlington. At Timmonsville the yield was 

 still greater than at Madison, but here only one picking was made, 

 and it is hardly possible to make a true comparison. Nothing definite 

 developed to indicate that a relationship exists between the amount 

 of precipitation and sunshine and the percentage of alkaloids pro- 

 duced. 



Plants were grown from cuttings, and at two stages of their growth 

 these plants showed a marked tendency to display the same charac- 

 teristic regarding alkaloid production as the plants from which they 

 were propagated and the original parents of those plants. 



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