The stocks are grown in pots on small scaffolds, and not
put on or into the earth. The obvious aim of this practice is to keep
the earth in the pots dry, and accordingly they are only scantily
watered. In consequence they cannot develop as fully as they would have
done when planted directly in the beds, and they produce only small
racemes and no weak twigs, eliminating thereby without further operation
the weaker seeds as by the French method. The effect is increased by
planting from 6-10 separate plants in each pot.
It would be very interesting to make comparative [337] trials of both
methods, in order to discover the true relation between the practice and
the results reached. Bath should also be compared with cultures on open
plots, which are said to give only 50% of doubles. This last method of
culture is practiced wherever it is desired to produce great quantities
of seeds at a low cost. Such trials would no doubt give an insight into
the relations of hereditary characters to the distribution of the food
within the plant.
A second point is the proportional increase of the double-flowering
seeds with age. If seed is kept for two or three years, the greater part
of the grains will gradually die, and among the remainder there is found
on sowing, a higher percentage of double ones.
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