LUTHER BURBANK 



tion of the amaryllis is by bulbs. But now and 

 again new plants would be raised from the seed, 

 and it would be natural that the florist should 

 select for seedlings the best and most typical rep- 

 resentatives of the species. So we may assume 

 that the specimens with which I worked repre- 

 sented a fixed type of hybrid inbred for a number 

 of generations, yet still carrying the new combina- 

 tion of hereditary factors originally brought 

 together through hybridization of the other forms, 

 already named as H. vittatum and H. reginae. 

 Very Mixed Pedigrees 



So when I began hybridizing experiments, and 

 crossed the H. Johnsoni with H. vittatum, I was 

 in reality making a union of a hybrid with one of 

 its parents. 



The closeness of aflBnity of the two would insure 

 ready fertilization. But, on the other hand, the 

 balance of hereditary factors that had been at- 

 tained in the hybrid would be disturbed and the 

 immediate offspring would really represent sec- 

 ond-generation hybrids, of which one parent was 

 at the same time a grandparent. 



The disturbing influence of this hybridization 

 was manifest enough from the outset, and the ten- 

 dency to variation thus initiated was accentuated 

 in the next generation, which brought into the 

 cross another species known as H, aulicum. It 



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