It may be grown in full isolation, and carefully selected, all red
or nearly monochromatic samples being rooted out long before blooming,
but nevertheless the seed will always produce some red roots. The most
careful selection, pursued through a number of years, has not been
sufficient to get rid of this regular occurrence of reversionary
individuals. Seed-growers receive many complaints from their clients on
this account, but they are not able to remove the difficulty. This
experience is in full agreement with the experimental evidence given by
the snapdragon, and it would certainly be very interesting to make a
complete pedigree-culture with the radishes to test definitely their
compliance with the rules observed for striped flowers.
Horticulturists in such cases are in the habit of limiting themselves to
the sale of so-called mixed seeds. From these no client expects purity,
and the normal and hereditary diversity of types is here in some sense
concealed under the impurities included in the mixture from lack of
selection. Such cases invite scrutiny, and would, no doubt, with the
methods of isolation, artificial pollination, and the sowing of the
seeds separately from each parent, yield [327] results of great
scientific value. Any one who has a garden, and sufficient perseverance
to make pure cultures during a series of years might make important
contributions to scientific knowledge in this way.
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