6 JOURNAL OF THE EOYAL HOETICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



3. To the difference in the colour of the seed-coat. This is either 

 white, Tsith which character white flowers are constantly correlated ; or 

 it is grey, grey-brown, leather-brown, with or without ^dolet spotting, in 

 which case the colour of the standards is ™let, that of the wings purple, 

 and the stem in the axils of the leaves is of a reddish tint. The grey 

 seed-coats become dark brown in boiling water. 



4. To the difference in the form of the ripe jJods. These are either 

 simply inflated, never contracted in places ; or they are deeply constricted 

 between the seeds and more or less wrinkled (P. saccharatum). 



5. To the difference in the colour of tJie unripe jJods. They are either 

 light to dark green, or vi\idly yellow, in which colouring the stalks, leaf- 

 veins, and blossom participate.* 



6. To the difference in tlie position of tlie floicers. They are either 

 axial, that is, distributed along the main stem ; or they are terminal, that 

 is, bunched at the top of the stem and arranged almost in a false umbel ; in 

 this case the upper part of the stem is more or less widened in section 

 (P. umhellatnm). 



7. To the difference in tlie length of the stem. The length of the stemt 

 is very various in some forms ; it is, however, a constant character for each, 

 in so far that in healthy plants, grown in the same soil, it is only subject 

 to unimportant variations. 



In trials with this character, in order to be able to discriminate with 

 certainty, the long axis of 6 — 7 ft. was always crossed with the short one of 

 I ft. to hit. 



Each two of the difterentiating characters enumerated above were 

 united by cross-fertihsation. There were made for the 



1st trial 60 fertilisations on 15 plants. 



2nd „ 58 



3rd „ 35 



4th „ 40 



5th „ 23 



6th „ 34 



7th „ 37 



10 

 10 

 10 

 5 

 10 

 10 



From a larger number of plants of the same variety only the most 

 vigorous were chosen for fertilisation. Weakly plants aftbrd always 

 uncertain results, because even in the first generation of hybrids, and still 

 more so in the subsequent ones, many of the offspring either entirely 

 fail to flower or only form a few and inferior seeds. 



Furthermore, in all the trials reciprocal crossings were effected in such 

 a way, that is, that each of the two varieties which in one set of fertilisations 

 served as seed-bearers in the other set were used as pollen plants. 



The plants were gro\\Ti in garden beds, a few also in pots, and were 

 maintained in their natural upright position by means of sticks, branches 



* One species possesses a beautifully brownish-red coloured pod, which when 

 ripening turns to violet and blue. Trials with this character were only begun last 

 year. [Of these further experiments it seems no account was published.] 



f [In my account of these experiments (R.H.S. JoiLrnal, vol. xxv. p. 54) I mis- 

 understood this paragraph and took " axis " to mean Xh.e floral axis, instead of the main 

 axis of the plant. The unit of measurement, being indicated in the original by a dash, 

 I thus took to have been an inch, but the translation here given is evidently correct. — 

 W. B.l 



