﻿404 
  Ever-sporting 
  Varieties 
  

  

  stems 
  of 
  this 
  and 
  of 
  allied 
  species 
  are 
  often 
  met 
  

   with 
  and 
  have 
  been 
  described 
  by 
  several 
  writers, 
  

   but 
  they 
  were 
  always 
  considered 
  as 
  acci- 
  

   dents 
  and 
  nobody 
  had 
  ever 
  tried 
  to 
  cultivate 
  

   them. 
  In 
  the 
  summer 
  of 
  1885 
  I 
  saw 
  among 
  a 
  

   lot 
  of 
  normal 
  wild 
  teasels, 
  two 
  nicely 
  twisted 
  

   stems 
  in 
  the 
  botanical 
  garden 
  of 
  Amsterdam. 
  

   I 
  at 
  once 
  proposed 
  to 
  ascertain 
  whether 
  they 
  

   would 
  yield 
  a 
  hereditary 
  race, 
  and 
  had 
  all 
  the 
  

   normal 
  individuals 
  thrown 
  away 
  before 
  the 
  

   flowering 
  time. 
  My 
  two 
  plants 
  flowered 
  in 
  this 
  

   isolated 
  condition 
  and 
  were 
  richly 
  pollinated 
  by 
  

   insects. 
  Of 
  course, 
  at 
  that 
  time, 
  I 
  knew 
  nothing 
  

   of 
  the 
  dependency 
  of 
  monstrosities 
  on 
  external 
  

   conditions, 
  and 
  made 
  the 
  mistake 
  of 
  sowing 
  the 
  

   seeds 
  and 
  cultivating 
  the 
  next 
  generation 
  in 
  

   too 
  great 
  numbers 
  on 
  a 
  small 
  space. 
  But 
  

   nevertheless 
  the 
  anomaly 
  was 
  repeated, 
  and 
  the 
  

   aberrant 
  individuals 
  were 
  once 
  more 
  isolated 
  

   before 
  flowering. 
  The 
  third 
  generation 
  re- 
  

   peated 
  the 
  second 
  but 
  produced 
  sixty 
  twisted 
  

   stems 
  on 
  some 
  1600 
  individuals. 
  The 
  result 
  

   was 
  very 
  striking 
  and 
  quite 
  sufficient 
  for 
  all 
  fur- 
  

   ther 
  researches, 
  but 
  the 
  normal 
  condition 
  of 
  the 
  

   race 
  was 
  not 
  reached. 
  This 
  was 
  the 
  case 
  only 
  

   after 
  I 
  had 
  discovered 
  the 
  bad 
  effects 
  of 
  grow- 
  

   ing 
  too 
  many 
  plants 
  in 
  a 
  limited 
  space. 
  In 
  the 
  

   fourth 
  generation 
  I 
  restricted 
  my 
  whole 
  culture 
  

   to 
  about 
  100 
  individuals, 
  and 
  by 
  this 
  simple 
  

  

  