SOME INTERESTING FAILURES 



long list of experiments that have led to no 

 practical result has scarcely been heard of by the 

 public in general. 



Some of these, however, are in themselves 

 highly interesting, and I have thought it worth 

 while to take the reader into my confidence to the 

 extent of telling about three or four series of 

 experiments which produced no permanent new 

 forms of flower or fruit, and which from the 

 commercial standpoint resulted only in loss of 

 time and money. 



There are certain lessons to be drawn from 

 these that I think will command the reader's 

 attention and interest. 



A Misguided Petunia 



One of the most curious hybridizing experi- 

 ments that I ever performed consisted of crossing 

 the common garden petunia with a variety of 

 tobacco, known as Nicotiana Wigandioides rubra. 



In this cross the petunia pollen was used to 

 fertilize the pistil of the tobacco plant. The seed 

 thus produced was planted in the summer, as 

 soon as it ripened, and possibly two hundred 

 plants were raised. 



When about a foot high the plants were placed 

 in boxes in the greenhouse to keep over winter. 

 They revealed no inclination to bloom, nor did 

 they vary greatly from the parent tobacco plant, 



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