AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 85 



there are a few more plants with green, than with purple herbage, 

 and the green ones were more productive than the others ; these 

 are marks of the Round White, and it may also be said that even 

 the purple plants were of a light cast, and that nearly all showed 

 the influence of the dwarf habit of Round White. A. 7 the other 

 Round White Cross, produced a lot of small plants, but they were 

 unproductive and much over half of them had purple herbage." 



A 1, A 5 and A 6, pollinated from another flower of the same 

 plant were exceedingly variable. "In fact A 1 was probably the 

 most hopelessly mixed of any in the entire list. The fruits 

 ranged from pure white to green with white stripes, purple striped, 

 light solid purple, and very dark purple ; and the mature fruits 

 varied from the size of an egg to that of Black Pekin. About 

 equal numbers of the 175 plants were green and purple. A 5 was 

 nearly as badly mixed, and some plants appeared which had the 

 peculiar spreading habit of Early Dwarf Purple, a variety which 

 had never entered any of the crosses. A 6 showed wide variations 

 also. A 8, which was simply a selection and had not been artifi- 

 cially pollinated, was about as variable as the rest." 



It will thus be seen by comparing the characteristics of the 

 plants of the two generations that crossing with either parent 

 served merely to intensify tendencies already existing, and that 

 the use of pollen from another flower of the same plant was 

 apparently ineffectual in serving to "fix" any type. 



Series B. 



Giant Round Purple X White Chinese. — This cross resulted in 

 some of the most promising types I have ever grown. The plants, 

 as in series A, were as a rule intermediate in habit and character 

 between the parents. The sturdy, vigorous habit of Giant Purple, 

 the female parent, was exhibited, but the leaves were smaller and 

 less distinctly lobed than in that variety. 



In form the fruits, as a rule, resembled the male parent. White 

 Chinese, but they were of greater diameter. The color at edible 

 maturity was rich dark purple with lighter apex. When left for 

 seeds to ripen, the dark purple body of the fruit became of a dull 

 greenish hue, while the lighter apex became gray, then yellowish 

 like the male parent. 



