250 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



indebted for the development of the Wrinkled Marrow which 

 imparted to the Pea a much higher table value. 



In the " Philosophical Transactions " for 1799 appears an 

 account of some experiments on the fecundation of vegetables, 

 made by Mr. T. A. Knight, then President of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society. Mr. Knight says : — "I had a Pea in my garden, 

 which having been long cultivated in the same soil had ceased to be 

 productive, and did not appear to recover the whole of its former 

 vitality when removed to a soil of a somewhat different quality : 

 on this my first experiment in 1787 was made. When the 

 blossoms were matured I introduced the farina of a large and 

 luxuriant grey Pea into the one half, leaving the others as they 

 were. The pods of each grew equally well, but I soon saw that 

 in those whose blossoms I had not fertilised the seeds remained 

 undeveloped and finally withered. Those in the other pods 

 attained maturity, but were not sensibly different to those of 

 other plants of the same variety. 



"In the succeeding spring, however, the difference became 

 very obvious, for the plants rose from them with increased 

 luxuriance, and the colour of their leaves and stems clearly 

 indicated that they had changed their whiteness for the colour 

 of the male parent, the seeds produced in autumn being dark 

 grey. By introducing the farina of another white variety (or, in 

 some instances, by simple culture) this colour was easily dis- 

 charged, and a numerous variety of new kinds produced, many of 

 which were in size and every other respect much superior to the 

 original white kind, and grew with excessive luxuriance, some to 

 the height of more than 12 feet. I observed a stronger tendency 

 to produce purple blossoms and coloured seeds than white ones, 

 for when I introduced the farina of a purple blossom into a white 

 one the whole of the seeds the next year became coloured ; but 

 when I tried to discharge this colour by reversing the process a 

 part only afforded plants with white blossoms, this part some- 

 times occupying one end of the pod, and being at other times 

 irregularly interspersed with those which when sown retained 

 their colour. 



" As the offspring of a White Pea is always white unless the 

 farina of a coloured kind is used on it, and as the colour of the 

 grey one is always transferred to its offspring, it occurred to 

 me] that if the farina of both were mingled or applied at the 



