Relation to Cultivation . 403 
shot up, 
and on counting 
them the 
following results 
obtained 
A 
B 
Twisted main stem 
5 
2 
20 
10 
Phyllotaxis ^ 
1 
1 
4 
5 
Normal (atavistic) 
!9 
17 
76 
85 
Total 
25 
20 
A and B are two groups of plants grown from seeds 
specially collected from two of the 1892 seed-bearers. 
The number of plants is obviously too small to admit of 
attaching much importance to the percentages obtained. 
In the autumn of 1894 the seed of the four best plants, 
which had been isolated from the rest, was harvested. 
The sixth generation , 1895-6, yielded a much more satis- 
factory result, viz. 42 per cent, of individuals with twisted 
main stems ; a result which was due, in part at least, to the 
greater distance of the plants from each other, the other 
conditions of cultivation being as before. The seed of 1894 
was sown about the middle of March, 1895, in pans kept in the 
greenhouse, the seedlings being transplanted into pots early 
in April, and planted out in the beds at the beginning of May. 
But there were only thirty-three plants to four square metres, 
that is about eight to the square metre. At the end of 
October I found that fourteen of the leaf-rosettes showed 
spiral phyllotaxis in the centre, seven showed J phyllotaxis, 
and twelve were normally decussate ; that is, 42 per cent, had 
spiral and 21 per cent. ^ phyllotaxis, and 36 per cent, were 
decussate. In May, 1896, I confirmed this result, and then 
all but the spiral plants were weeded out. The six most 
strongly twisted individuals were selected as seed-bearers, 
and were isolated before flowering. 
The seventh generation , 1897-8, was raised in much the 
same way. The seed of 1896 was sown in the greenhouse on 
May 5, 1897 ; the seedlings were potted off, and about the 
beginning of July they were planted out, seventy in all, in the 
beds, sixteen plants to the square metre. 
