Diese beiden Versuche sind wichtig für die Feststellung der mittleren Verhältnisszahlen, weil sie bei einer geringeren Anzahl von Versuchspflanzen sehr bedeutende Durchschnitte möglich machen.
These two experiments are important for the establishment of the mean numerical proportions because they make possible very significant averages with a small quantity of experimental plants.
numerical proportions = Verhältnisszahlen See p. 3, s. 8.
significant averages = bedeutende Durchschnitte Bateson mistranslates “very considerable fluctuations”, probably due to the remarks Mendel makes about fluctuations in the preceding sentences. Yet Mendel’s point seems to be that the experiments can yield large numbers without needing to cultivate a large number of individuals; because he is dealing with seed characters (cf. p. 12, s. 2) he can simply pick a large number of seeds from each individual plant, as is also made very clear by the preceding table. Tschermak reads verschiedene for bedeutende, but does not specify on what basis he proposes this reading; see Gregor Mendel, Versuche über Pflanzenhybriden, edited by Erich von Tschermak (Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, 1901), p. 11. Since Tschermak apparently was working with an offprint corrected by Mendel (see ibid., p. 10), it may be that he based his reading on a correction by Mendel. Since the manuscript has bedeutende as well, we believe that this is highly unlikely, though.
quantity = Anzahl See p. 3, s. 8.