1880 . ] 
EXPERIMENTS IN THE HYBRIDISATION OF FLOWERS. 
131 
and female parent, and a separate note of tlie 
apparent predominating influence of its male 
or female parent in eacli case arranged under 
the following divisions:—A, in habit; B, in 
the foliage ; C, in the colour; D, in form of 
pip ; E, in the truss ; F, in the time of flower¬ 
ing. During the latter part of the investiga¬ 
tion, the last-named inquiry was abandoned; 
and as regards the habit, as already stated, any 
satisfactory conclusion could be drawn only in 
85 cases, while results were obtainable on 
most of the other points in 550 examinations. 
In noting the influence that seemed to pre¬ 
dominate in each plant, the following letters 
were employed,—M, when the male influence 
was most apparent; F, when the female influ¬ 
ence was more marked ; I, when the result was 
intermediate between the male and female; 
and N, when no resemblance was to be de¬ 
tected. A table formed out of these, as below, 
was employed to arrive at the conclusions. 
Numbered 
Seedling. 
Parentage. 
Habit. 
Foliage. 
Colour. 
Form of 
Pip. 
Truss. 
18 
20 x 2 
N 
F 
I 
M 
M 
19 
60 x 17 
— 
M 
F 
I 
F 
20 
51 x 61 
M 
M 
M 
F 
F 
The above, which is an extract from a page in 
the note-book formed as described, identifies the 
seedling by a number in the first column, gives 
next its male and female parent, and then, by 
the symbols used, denotes whether the male or 
female influence predominated in the particu¬ 
lars of each column, or whether the effect was 
intermediate or nil. It will be seen that often 
the predominating influence was different in 
the different parts of the same seedling. This 
No. 18 resembled its female parent in the 
foliage, but the male in form of pip, while the 
colour of the corolla was intermediate, and this 
variability of influence was evident in a great 
majority of instances. 
To arrive at any general conclusion, the 
table thus formed, when 550 seedlings had 
been examined, was analysed, and the follow¬ 
ing general results were obtained,—that is, the 
various columns have been analysed, and the 
calculations reduced to the same ratio, or to a 
ratio per centum :— 
Influences Prevailing, per Cent. 
Til habit. 
Foliage. 
Colour. 
Pip. 
Truss. 
Generally 
Male . 
18-82 
25-22 
21-35 
25-65 
14-45 
21-10 
Female. 
47-05 
40-22 
23-95 
33-91 
2517 
34-06 
Intermediate . 
24-70 
27-72 
40-52 
31-08 
50-58 
34-92 
None. 
9T7 
6-81 
14-16 
9-34 
9-79 
9-85 
There are many interesting facts to bo drawn 
from the above table, to some of which I will 
direct attention. 
1. That some effect from the artificial 
hybridisation was apparent in 90 per cent, of 
the whole. 
2. It will be seen, on referring to the last 
column, where the general results appear, that 
the influence of the female was greater than 
that of the male parent in the ratio of about 
3 to 2. 
3. And that a joint influence of both 
parents was shown in rather more than one- 
third of the whole. 
4. The above being the general influence, it 
will be seen that the influence of either parent 
varied considerably in the particular properties 
of the plants, thus :— 
5. As regards habit, the female influence 
was the greater, as it was also in the foliage. 
0. As regards the colour, for which the 
hybridiser often aims, it will be seen that the 
male and female influences are much more 
equally poised, and their joint influence in 
modifying the result was shown in 4(H per cent. 
7. As regards the pip, which includes that 
property which the enthusiastic florist so much 
seeks after in England, “ form,” my table goes 
to show that the influence of male and female 
are much more equal than is usually supposed, 
the female influence really preponderating only 
in the ratio of about 6 to 5. In making this 
estimate, the 31 per cent, of joint influence 
must not be omitted. 
8. The eighth fact which the table shows, 
and which appears to be of a very encouraging 
kind to all hybridists, is that whether we look 
to the general effect, or to particular effects, 
the highest per-centages are on the line of 
intermediate influence of the parents. An 
intermediate result in Zonals may be expected 
at least in colour and size of truss. 
Lastly, as regards this intermediate influence 
of the parents, I observed some curious and 
unexpected results. I was prepared to believe 
that very little change of breed or blood might 
produce great change of colour. There can be 
but very slight vital difference in the different 
portions of the same petal in flaked and varie¬ 
gated flowers, and yet the difference of colour 
is often great and quite opposite. In many of my 
hybrids, however, I found that the crossing of 
K 2 
