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  Ever-sporting 
  Varieties 
  

  

  however, 
  is 
  not 
  to 
  be 
  reached 
  easily. 
  It 
  often 
  

   requires 
  several 
  successive 
  generations 
  grown 
  

   from 
  seed 
  collected 
  from 
  the 
  most 
  atavistic 
  spec- 
  

   imens. 
  And 
  even 
  such 
  selected 
  strains 
  are 
  al- 
  

   ways 
  reverting 
  to 
  the 
  crested 
  type. 
  There 
  is 
  

   no 
  transgression, 
  no 
  springing 
  over 
  into 
  a 
  

   purely 
  atavistic 
  form, 
  such 
  as 
  may 
  be 
  supposed 
  

   to 
  have 
  once 
  been 
  the 
  ancestor 
  of 
  the 
  present 
  

   cockscomb. 
  The 
  variety 
  includes 
  crests 
  and 
  

   atavists, 
  and 
  may 
  be 
  perpetuated 
  from 
  both. 
  

   Obviously 
  every 
  gardener 
  would 
  select 
  the 
  seeds 
  

   of 
  the 
  brightest 
  crests, 
  but 
  with 
  care 
  the 
  full 
  

   crests 
  may 
  be 
  recovered, 
  even 
  from 
  the 
  worst 
  

   reversionists 
  in 
  two 
  or 
  three 
  generations. 
  It 
  is 
  

   a 
  double 
  race 
  of 
  quite 
  the 
  same 
  constitution 
  as 
  

   the 
  twisted 
  teasels. 
  

  

  My 
  second 
  point 
  is 
  a 
  direct 
  proof 
  of 
  this 
  as- 
  

   sertion, 
  but 
  made 
  with 
  a 
  fasciated 
  variety 
  of 
  a 
  

   wild 
  species. 
  I 
  took 
  for 
  my 
  experiment 
  the 
  

   rough 
  hawksbeard. 
  In 
  the 
  summer 
  of 
  1895 
  I 
  

   isolated 
  some 
  atavists 
  of 
  the 
  fifth 
  generation 
  of 
  

   my 
  race, 
  which, 
  by 
  ordinary 
  selection, 
  gave 
  in 
  

   the 
  average 
  from 
  20 
  - 
  40$ 
  of 
  fasciated 
  stems. 
  

   My 
  isolated 
  atavists 
  bore 
  abundant 
  fruit, 
  and 
  

   from 
  these 
  I 
  had 
  the 
  next 
  year 
  a 
  set 
  of 
  some 
  350 
  

   plants, 
  out 
  of 
  which 
  about 
  20$ 
  had 
  broadened 
  

   and 
  linear 
  rosettes. 
  This 
  proportion 
  corre- 
  

   sponds 
  with 
  the 
  degree 
  of 
  inheritance 
  which 
  is 
  

   shown 
  in 
  many 
  years 
  by 
  the 
  largest 
  and 
  strong- 
  

  

  