IN THE TROPICS. 
367 
EXPERIMENTS IN GROSSING. 
1.—Telegraph crossed with Native Pea No. 1. 
A.— Description of Parents. 
Sutton's Telegraph pea. —This is described as being on the average 
5 feet in height, and as being “ Singularly free from the frequent 
objectionable sports.” 
The sample obtained consisted of large seeds which varied a good 
deal in shape, and as regards surface might usually have been des¬ 
cribed as almost dimpled. The starch grains however are of the 
form typical for “round” peas, and the seeds therefore belong to the 
“round” group as distinguished from the “wrinkled ”* The coty¬ 
ledons were of a deep green colour with hardly any tinge of yellow in 
the great majority of cases. The testas were white and semi-trans¬ 
parent. The seeds varied in longest diameter from 7 to 10 mm., the 
average of 500 being 8*7 mm. 
As grown in Ceylon the average height of the plants was about 
5 feet ; but the height was also very variable, ranging from 3 to 7 
feet in different individuals. The stems were stout and the foliage 
large. The flowers were always pure white. The pods were large— 
about 20 mm. in width—and well inflated, and they tapered to a point 
at the apex. The seeds were not so well “ filled out ” as those of the 
original sample, but were elongated and nearly square in cross section. 
447 seeds, gathered in February, 1903, from plants of the first 
generation, included 68 per cent, fully green seeds, 30 per cent, 
piebald or tinged with yellow, and 2 per cent, fully yellow. 
Selection of the roundest and of the most wrinkled seeds of the 
original sample had practically no effect upon the form of the off¬ 
spring, which was slightly more irregular than in the first generation. 
Native pea No. 1.—The plants of this form are slim and the foliage 
small. The height varied enormously according to the time of 
sowing and the amount of moisture. In this way the average height 
varied from 3 feet to 5 feet 6 inches ; but the variation among the 
individual plants was less than in the case of Telegraph. The 
Cp. p. 324. 
