﻿322 
  Ever-sporting 
  Varieties 
  

  

  varieties, 
  about 
  the 
  middle 
  of 
  the 
  last 
  century, 
  

   in 
  the 
  nursery 
  of 
  Messrs. 
  Vilmorin, 
  and 
  prob- 
  

   ably 
  it 
  will 
  remain 
  so 
  as 
  long 
  as 
  popular 
  taste 
  

   supports 
  its 
  cultivation. 
  It 
  has 
  never 
  been 
  ob- 
  

   served 
  to 
  trangress 
  its 
  limits 
  or 
  to 
  sport 
  into 
  

   varieties 
  without 
  reversions 
  or 
  sports. 
  It 
  fluc- 
  

   tuates 
  from 
  one 
  extreme 
  to 
  the 
  other 
  yearly, 
  al- 
  

   ways 
  recurring 
  in 
  the 
  following 
  year, 
  or 
  even 
  in 
  

   the 
  same 
  summer 
  by 
  single 
  buds. 
  Highly 
  va- 
  

   riable 
  within 
  its 
  limits, 
  it 
  is 
  absolutely 
  constant 
  

   or 
  permanent, 
  when 
  considered 
  as 
  a 
  definite 
  

   group. 
  

  

  Similar 
  cases 
  occur 
  not 
  rarely 
  among 
  culti- 
  

   vated 
  plants. 
  In 
  the 
  wild 
  state 
  they 
  seem 
  to 
  

   be 
  wholly 
  wanting. 
  Neither 
  are 
  they 
  met 
  with 
  

   as 
  occasional 
  anomalies 
  nor 
  as 
  distinct 
  varie- 
  

   ties. 
  On 
  the 
  contrary, 
  many 
  garden-flowers 
  

   that 
  are 
  colored 
  in 
  the 
  species, 
  and 
  besides 
  this 
  

   have 
  a 
  white 
  or 
  yellow 
  variety, 
  have 
  also 
  

   striped 
  sorts. 
  The 
  oldest 
  instance 
  is 
  probably 
  

   the 
  marvel 
  of 
  Peru, 
  Mirabilis 
  Jalappa, 
  which 
  

   already 
  had 
  more 
  than 
  one 
  striped 
  variety 
  at 
  

   the 
  time 
  of 
  its 
  introduction 
  from 
  Peru 
  into 
  the 
  

   European 
  gardens, 
  about 
  the 
  beginning 
  of 
  the 
  

   seventeenth 
  century. 
  Stocks, 
  liver-leaf 
  (He- 
  

   patica), 
  dame's 
  violet 
  (Hesperis), 
  Sweet 
  Wil- 
  

   liam 
  (Dianthus 
  loarbatus), 
  and 
  periwinkles 
  

   (Vinca 
  minor] 
  seem 
  to 
  be 
  in 
  the 
  same 
  condition, 
  

   as 
  their 
  striped 
  varieties 
  were 
  already 
  quoted 
  

  

  