Asks D. Beaton whether varieties of the same species of Compositae frequently cross by insect agency or other means. Do the raisers of hollyhocks have to keep each variety separate for raising seed?
Asks D. Beaton whether varieties of the same species of Compositae frequently cross by insect agency or other means. Do the raisers of hollyhocks have to keep each variety separate for raising seed?
Thanks Mr Beaton for his answer [to 3147].
Asks further questions on points raised in Beaton’s previous papers: whether crossing white and blue varieties of Anemone apennina produced many pale shades; whether the Mathiola incana and M. glabra which crossed freely were artificially or naturally crossed.
CD is delighted by Beaton’s assertion that "not a flower in a thousand is fertilised by its own immediate pollen".
Recounts his experiments with Leschenaultia formosa to show insect fertilisation.
CD, commenting on a case of peloric flowering in Auricula, urges readers to send in their observations on whether flowers nearest the axis tend to differ from others on the plant. Such a law of variation would be worth discovering.
CD thanks correspondents for information relating to the fertilisation of Pelargonium and of wheat. Suggests further observations and experiments.
Requests the names of the parents of Gladiolus gandavensis and six varieties for the purpose of determining their probable origin.
Asks whether any correspondents have observed any sensible differences between the bees kept in different parts of Great Britain. CD has heard from several sources that breeds of bee in different areas vary.
Is obliged for information concerning differences in the bees of Britain. Relates case of the Jamaican bees which were introduced long ago and have remained the same in size and character except that the diameter of the cells is larger, the wax tougher, and the walls of the hive thicker.
Confesses to having made a gross blunder with reference to the size of bee cells in West Indian combs [see 3658a].
Asks H. W. Newman whether the queen humble-bee is fertilised on the ground or in the air, and whether the fertilisation often takes place as late as September. [Newman’s reply follows CD’s letter.]
Asks correspondents whether any kinds of strawberries now cultivated have been raised from a cross between the wood or alpine strawberry and the scarlet, pine, or Chili strawberry.
Asks for authentic information on following questions: 1. Has the weight of the gooseberry variety London subsequently exceeded the 1845 record of 880 grains?
2. Is any record kept of the diameter of the largest pansies?
3. How early does any variety of Dahlia flower and do some varieties withstand frost better than others?
Inquires whether penguin ducks can run faster than other kinds.
Remarks on the influence of pollen of one species or variety on the seed and fruit of another while still attached to the female plant. Refers to a remarkable case previously given by D. Beaton and asks whether Beaton will repeat the details.
[CD’s letter is followed by notes by D. Beaton in which he answers CD’s question, dissociating himself from some of his remarks, and in particular denying C. F. v. Gärtner’s claim that colour of one variety of pea can be changed by the direct action of the pollen of a different variety.]
Answers D. Beaton’s criticism of Gärtner’s work, defending his results in crossing experiments and vindicating the memory of "one of the most laborious lovers of truth who ever lived".
Reports the observations of Hermann Crüger and John Scott that fruit is set by orchids whose flowers never open and that pollen-tubes are emitted from pollen-masses still in their proper position. These cases convince CD that in Orchids he underestimated the power of tropical orchids to produce seed without insect aid but he is not shaken in his belief that the structure of the flowers is mainly related to insect agency.