were self-fertilised. From the seeds thus produced four crossed and four
self-fertilised plants were raised, which were planted in the usual
manner on the opposite sides of two pots. All these four crossed plants
were inferior in height to their opponents; they averaged 78.18 inches,
whilst the four self-fertilised plants averaged 84.8 inches; or as 100
to 108. (2/2. From one of these self-fertilised plants, spontaneously
self-fertilised, I gathered twenty-four capsules, and they contained on
an average only 3.2 seeds per capsule; so that this plant had apparently
inherited some of the sterility of its parent.) This case, therefore,
confirms the last. Taking all the evidence together, we must conclude
that these strictly self-fertilised plants grew a little taller, were
heavier, and generally flowered before those derived from a cross
between two flowers on the same plant. These latter plants thus present
a wonderful contrast with those derived from a cross between two
distinct individuals.

THE EFFECTS ON THE OFFSPRING OF A CROSS WITH A DISTINCT OR FRESH STOCK
BELONGING TO THE SAME VARIETY.

From the two foregoing series of experiments we see, firstly, the good
effects during several successive generations of a cross between
distinct plants, although these were in some degree inter-related and
had been grown under nearly the same conditions; and, secondly, the
absence of all such good effects from a cross between flowers on the
same plant; the comparison in both cases being made with the offspring
of flowers fertilised with their own pollen. The experiments now to be
given show how powerfully and beneficially plants, which have been
intercrossed during many successive generations, having been kept all
the time under nearly uniform conditions, are affected by a cross with
another plant belonging to the same variety, but to a distinct family or