Altogether, it seemed almost
childish to expect any result. Nevertheless from my experiments on Primula, I
had faith, and did not hesitate to make the trial, but certainly did not
anticipate the full result which was obtained. The germens of these twelve
flowers all swelled, and ultimately six fine capsules (the seed of which
germinated on the following year) and two poor capsules were produced; only four
capsules shanking off. These same two long-styled plants produced, in the course
of the summer, a vast number of flowers, the stigmas of which were covered with
their own pollen; but they all proved absolutely barren, and their germens did
not even swell.
The nine other plants, six long-styled and three short-styled, grew not very far
apart in my flower-garden. Four of these long-styled plants produced no seed-
capsules; the fifth produced two; and the remaining one grew so close to a
short-styled plant that their branches touched, and this produced twelve
capsules, but they were poor ones. The case was different with the short-styled
plants. The one which grew close to the long-styled plant produced ninety-four
imperfectly fertilised capsules containing a multitude of bad seeds, with a
moderate number of good ones. The two other short-styled plants growing together
were small, being partly smothered by other plants; they did not stand very
close to any long-styled plants, yet they yielded together nineteen capsules.
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