186 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



a tall or climbing section with similar variegation, called 1 Queen of the 

 Tails.' 



I may say that I have done but little in artificial hybridizing. I have 

 always preferred looking out for natural breaks or variations and spotting 

 those I considered improvements or likely by careful selection to lead to 

 such : 1 have generally considered them more easy to fix in character 

 than those produced by artificial hybridization. Every plant from seed 

 varies in some degree from the parent form ; some going, as one may say 

 backward, some forward, but all varying somewhat ; and it is from these 

 variations that I have generally attempted to select. Cross-pollination 

 is doubtless very frequently effected by insects ; while sometimes, no 

 doubt, the variations are caused by the surroundings and soil and Nature's 

 desire to go forward and improve itself ; but man is seldom so wise in 

 his selection of parents as Nature. 



Some classes of plants vary in variation, if I may say so, more than 

 others, and some crosses or hybrids differ very considerably in their 

 variability from others, even in the same family. The Sweet Pea, for 

 instance, had not been known to sport much before the ' Countess Spencer ' 

 variety was born. Mr. Eckford's new varieties always were introduced 

 to the world true and fixed, but when this variety, ' Countess Spencer,' first 

 came out it sported into anything and everything ; and this was perhaps 

 a good thing, as we have, or expect to have some day, a grand lot of new 

 colours fixed from it ; but now all, or nearly all, are as bad as their 

 parent, the 1 Countess.' Growers select these new colours of ' Countess ' 

 type and try to fix them and think they have succeeded, but so far, even if 

 selected perfectly true the first year, one finds them gone all to pieces the 

 next, with only a moderate percentage of the true type and colour in them, 

 often hardly any. How is it ? What law governs it ? I do not know 

 the law, but I know the fact. But quite different is it with the 1 Gladys 

 Tnwin ' type, which is a very similar cross, almost identical in colour, size, 

 and appearance, but so different in its variability, for it keeps perfectly true, 

 and I am proud that my firm introduced it. Then all its progeny — 'Nora 

 Unwin ' (the white), ' E. I. Castle ' (the carmine, shaded orange), ' Mrs. 

 Alfred Watkins ' (the pale pink), all keep true. There may be a very 

 small percentage of stray ones, but these are hardly worth mentioning, 

 and there js no difficulty at all in keeping them quite true. 



As the ' Countess ' has now, after five years' constant and ruthless selec- 

 tion and care, been at last really fixed, I am hoping that with the same 

 constant care and ruthless selection its progeny may also before long be 

 fixed in character. 



I have come to the conclusion that when once any cross or hybrid 

 bohaves like the ' Countess ' Sweet Pea, it proves it has come upon a period 

 of great variability in the history of the race, and this power to vary 

 remains active for several generations. I have noticed white-seeded 

 runner beans sown and produce a percentage of scarlet runners, and 

 thes.' produce and ripen dark seeds. I have sown dark-seeded scarlet 

 runners and seen ,i percentage of white-blooming ones grow from them, 

 producing white seed. So with the* White Spencer' Sweet Peas, introduced 

 bom Ann iica last year. We sowed them (every seed w&sivhite), but they 

 baw ah urn 5 to 8 per cent, of plants with flowers not white, but 



