Hence
it may be considered worth while to give some more details of this
extended experiment.
Ten years ago (1894-5) I bought and sowed about a pound of seed of the
crimson clover. Among many thousands of normal seedlings I found two
with three and one with four cotyledons. Trusting to the empirical rules
of correlation, I transplanted these three individuals in order to
isolate them in the flowering period.
One of them produced during the ensuing summer one four-bladed and one
five-bladed leaf. The seeds were saved separately and sown the following
spring and the expected result could soon be seen. Among some 250
individual plants I counted 22 with one or two deviations, and 10 with
from three to nine four- or five-bladed leaves. Proportions nearly
similar have been observed repeatedly. Better nourished individuals have
produced more deviating leaves on one plant, partly owing to the larger
number of stems and branches, and poor or average specimens have mostly
been without any aberration or with only one or two abnormal leaves. No
further improvement could be attained. Quadrifoliolate leaves were
always rare, never [360] attaining a number that would put its stamp on
a whole bed. I have endeavored to get some six- and seven-bladed crimson
clover leaves, but in vain; selection, culture of many hundreds of
individuals, manure, and the best possible treatment has not been
adequate to produce them.
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