Variation in the Colour of Cross Impregnated Peas. 235 



were opened, in order to sow the seed, I found, to my great 

 surprise, that the colour of the Peas, instead of being a deep 

 blue, like their female parent, was of a yellowish white, like 

 the male. Towards the end of the summer I was equally 

 surprised to find that these white seeds had produced some 

 pods with all blue, some with all white, and many with both 

 blue and white Peas in the same pod. 



Last spring, I separated all the blue Peas from the white, 

 and sowed each colour in separate rows ; and I now find that 

 the blue produce only blue, while the white seeds yield some 

 pods with all white, and some with both blue and white Peas 

 intermixed. 



The edible qualities of this Pea I have not tried, having but 

 few. It grows two or two feet and a half high, and attains ma- 

 turity about the same time with its blue parent, which it much 

 resembles, and unfolds a large, deep green rich foliage, su- 

 perior to any I have seen. It seems to require a greater 

 depth and richness of soil than other sorts, or than I have 

 given it. 



Should this new variety of Pea neither possess superior 

 merit, nor be deemed singular in its bi-coloured produce, yet 

 there is, I conceive, something in its history that will emit a 

 ray of physiological light, or at least militate against an opinion 

 held by Mr. Salisbury, who, in his remarks on the anomaly 

 of the Peach and Nectarines growing on the same branch, 

 says* " I have not a doubt of the important consequences 

 which ensue, when the stigma of one plant imbibes pollen 

 belonging to another, but these are only manifested in the 

 succeeding generation ." 



* Horticultural Society's Transactions, Vol. I. page 105. 



