Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/121

* PLANQTJETTE. 93 PLANQITETTE, pla.N-'ket'. Robert (1850- 1903 ). A Fieucli composer of light opera, born in Paris. He studied at the Paris Conservatory, and wrote at first mediocre songs. His success came with his adoption of the Musiquette, a genre in which lie wrote sixteen very successful operettas between 1873 and 1892, one of those best known in America and England being Les cloches de Corne- ville (1877). also known as The Chimes of Nor- mandij. Others scarcely less popular are ^ell G Wynne (1884), La crcmaillcre (1S8.5), and T/i-e Old Guard (1887), written for the English stage. His music is light and graceful and thoroughly representative of the school which claims as its exponents Lecocq. Audran, Serpette, Ban6s, Vas- seur, and Victor Roger. PLANTAGENET. A royal house of England which succeeded to the throne in 1154 in the per- son of Henry, son of Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, and Matilda, daughter of Henry I. (see Hexky II.). and ruled in the direct male line till 1399. The name of Plantagenet is commonly said to have been applied to Geoffrey of Anjou from his habit of wearing sprigs of broom (plaiita genesta) in his cap. The house gave to England some of its ablest rulers, and the period of the later Plantagenets especially is important for the de- velopment of the Parliament and the determina- tion of the general character of English constitu- tional grovth. The monarchs of this line were: Hexby II. (1154-89): Richard I. (1189-99); John (1199-1216): Henry III. (1216-72); Ed- ward I. (1272-1307); Edward II. (1307-27); Edw.rd III. (1327-77): RiCH.UiD II. (1377-99). With the death of the childless Richard II. in 1399 the crown passed to the House of Lancaster (q.v. ), descended from John of Gaunt, fourth son of Edward III., and therefore in reality a branch of the House of Plantagenet. Tlie Lancastrian monarchs were forced to contend against the claims of the House of York (q.v.), similarly descended from a son of Edward III. (See also Roses, Yar of the.) The line of York attained the throne in the person of Edward IV. (1461- 83), but with the death of his brother, Richard III. (1483-85), the crown passed to the House of Tudor (q.v.). PLANTAIN (OF.. Fr. plantain, from Lat. plantago, plantain ; connected with planta. plant) Cooking Banana, Adam's Fig (Musa paradisi- aca). An herb of the natural order Musaeeae. It is a native of India, but is widely culti- vated in the tropics for its fruits, which re- semble those of the banana, but are less sweet and less pleasant to eat uncooked. It is one of the most important of tropical fruits, since a very large part of the human race use it as a principal food. In habit of gro^vth it resembles the banana (q.v.). PLANTAIN-EATER. Either of two West -African birds of the turaco family. Musophagidse, which have serrated bills and feed on fruits, espe- cially that of the bananas. Both are birds of the size of a crow, are handsomely colored, and form the genus ilusophaga. The name is sometimes extended to various other genera. See Tubaco. PLANT-BREEDING. Tlie art of improving plants by crossing and selection. In general plants tend to reproduce their main characters unchanged, but their long-recognized tendency to vary has prompted much experimentation, which, with the undirected variation, has resulted in the PLANT-BREEDING. production of many cultivated varieties, strains, and races. In some eases the variation appears on a part of a single individual and can be traced to no apparent cause. Such variations are usual- ly called sports, and, when desired, are propagated by artificial asexual methods, which consist of the indefinite propagation of a single individual bj' cuttings, grafts, layers, etc. This method is one of the simplest and in some respects the surest method of plant-breeding, since as a rule sports are less plastic than other variant forms. The principal objection raised against the method is the weakness supposed to follow long continued asexual propagation. Familiar examples of this type of breeding are the weeping willows and elms, cut-leaved birches and maples, variegated foliage plants, etc. Selection, a second method, consists in the saving of seed from only such individuals as exhibit qualities not possessed by all, undesirable forms being destroyed. Plants grown from seed tend to vary greatly because of the action of diverse factors. As with many varieties of grapes, apples, and other fruits, some seedling may exhibit .sufficient merit to be propagated without further selection by the asex- ual methods mentioned. Usually, however, the progeny shows only a slight improvement over the parent plant, and selection must be continued un- til the ideal is approximated or an improvement secured that is worth commercial introduction. Associated with selection, and in manv cases preliminary to it. is fertilization, which may re- sult from the transportation of pollen by wind or insects in a natural cross, as in numerous hy- brids of oak, willow, etc., occurring in nature. Or there may be an artificial transfer of pollen for a definite purpose. Variations are often in- troduced by this means and the desirable variant propagated and improved by long continued se- lection. Since Darwin's time the superabimdant nutrition of plants has been held to be a prominent cause of variation. A large part of the work of improving sugar beets, potatoes, tomatoes, cereals, etc., has been along these lines. The usual meth- od of artificial pollination is to remove the im- mature stamens from the flower to be fertilized unless the pistil is known to be sterile to pollen of the same variety of plant. Yhen the stigmas of the emasculated flower are ripe, pollen from a related plant is placed upon them, and the flower covered with fine gauze or a paper bag to prevent an accidental application of other pollen. When the fruits or seeds are mature, they are collected, and planted when the usual season for planting arrives. From the progeny of such a fertilization individuals that differ from both parents are se- lected as the basis of new varieties. When a de- sirable form is found, it is subjected to further cultivation and selection, attention being given to keep the selection always along one line, since any deviation will likely result in the ultimate failure of the experiment. In making selections the in- dividual plant and not any particular portion of it must be the unit of selection. In following out this improvement thousands of individuals will probably have to be discarded. It is said that an American carnation-grower destroyed more than CO.OOO plants that he had reared to flower- ing to secure a single new desirable variety. In plant-breeding the following principles are laid down: Thorough knowledge of the plant, a preconceived ideal established and maintained throughout, large numbers of seedlings should be