Polycephalic Poppies 383 



rrom all these and other reasons some plants 

 will be favored by the external conditions from 

 the beginning, while others will be retarded, and 

 the effects will gradually increase until at last 

 they become sufficient to account for a consider- 

 able amount of individual variability. There 

 is no doubt that the difference in the strength of 

 the plant and in the size of the capsules, going 

 from 5-10 grams for a single fruit, are for the 

 most part due to these unavoidable circum- 

 stances. I have tried all conceivable means to 

 find remedies for these difficulties, but only by 

 sowing my seeds in pans in a glass-house have 

 I been able to reach more constant and equal 

 conditions. But unfortunately such a method 

 requires the planting out of the young seed- 

 lings in the beginning of the summer, and this 

 operation is not without danger for opium-pop- 

 pies, and especially not without important influ- 

 ence on the monstrosity of the pistilloid variety. 

 Consequently my sowings of this plant have 

 nearly always been made in the beds. 



In order to show how great the influence of all 

 these little things may become, we only have to 

 make two sowings on neighboring beds and un- 

 der conditions which have carefully been made 

 as equal as possible. If we use for these con- 

 trolling experiments seeds from one and the 

 same capsule, it will soon become evident that 



