The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom (Cambridge Library Collection - Darwin, Evolution and Genetics)

Darwin's impetus for the experiments of which the results are recorded in this book was 'a mere accidental observation; and indeed it required the accident to be repeated before my attention was thoroughly aroused to the remarkable fact that seedlings of self-fertilised parentage are inferior, even in the first generation, in height and vigour to seedlings of cross-fertilised parentage'. After eleven years of meticulous experimentation and observation, described in this volume, he was ready to publish in 1876 the detailed study which he regarded as a companion volume to his 1862 On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects. His 'first and most important of the conclusions which may be drawn ... is that cross-fertilisation is generally beneficial, and self-fertilisation injurious': this understanding is of course the basis of all modern plant breeding programmes. Cover......Page 1 Frontmatter......Page 6 Contents......Page 8 CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTORY REMARKS......Page 14 CHAPTER II - CONVOLVULACEÆ......Page 41 CHAPTER III - SCROPHULARIACEÆ, GESNERIACEÆ, LABIATÆ, ETC......Page 76 IV - CRUCIFERÆ, PAPAVERACEÆ, RESEDACEÆ, ETC......Page 111 CHAPTER V - GERANIACEÆ, LEGUMINOSÆ, ONAGRACEÆ, ETC......Page 155 CHAPTER VI - SOLANACEÆ PRIMULACEÆ, POLYGONEÆ, ETC......Page 201 CHAPTER VII - SUMMARY OF THE HEIGHTS AND WEIGHTS OF THE CROSSED AND SELF-FERTILISED PLANTS......Page 251 CHAPTER VIII - DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CROSSED AND SELF-FERTILISED PLANTS IN CONSTITUTIONAL VIGOUR AND IN OTHER RESPECTS......Page 298 CHAPTER IX - THE EFFECTS OF CROSS-FERTILISATION AND SELF-FERTILISATION ON THE PRODUCTION OF SEEDS......Page 325 CHAPTER X - MEANS OF FERTILISATION......Page 369 CHAPTER XI - THE HABITS OF INSECTS IN RELATION TO THE FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS......Page 428 CHAPTER XII - GENERAL RESULTS......Page 449 INDEX......Page 484 This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of international literature classics available in printed format again - worldwide. After eleven years of meticulous experimentation and observation, described in this volume, Darwin was ready to publish in 1876 his detailed study of the different effects of cross- and self-fertilisation in plants. His findings form the basis of all modern plant breeding programmes.