Sometimes a spike even differentiates longitudinally,
bearing on one side blue and on the other white corollas, and the white
stripe running over the spike may be seen to be long and large, or
narrow and short in various degrees. In such cases it is evident that
the heritages of the parents remain uninfluenced by each other during
the whole life of the hybrid, working side by side, but the active
element always prevails over its latent opponent which is ready to break
free whenever an opportunity is offered.
It is now generally assumed that this incomplete mixture of the parental
qualities in a hybrid, this uncertain and limited combination is the
true cause of the many deviations, exhibited by varietal hybrids when
compared with their [286] parents. Partial departures are rare in the
hybrids themselves, but in their offspring the divergence becomes the
rule.
Segregation seems to be a very difficult process in the vegetative way,
but it must be very easy in sexual reproduction, indeed so easy as to
show itself in nearly every single instance.
Leaving this first generation, the original hybrids, we now come to a
discussion of their offspring. Hybrids should be fertilized either by
their own pollen, or by that of other individuals born from the same
cross. Only in this case can the offspring be considered as a means of
arriving at a decision as to the internal nature of the hybrids
themselves.
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