312 Ever-sporting Varieties 



contradictions are unavoidable, when we ap- 

 ply the old term to such unusual though not 

 at all new cases. Combining the stability and 

 the qualities of sports in one word, we may evi- 

 dently best express it by the new term of ever- 

 sporting variety. 



We will now discuss the exact nature of such 

 varieties, and of the laws of heredity which 

 govern them. But before doing so, I might 

 point out, that this new type is a very common 

 one. It embraces most of the so-called variable 

 types in horticulture, and besides these a wide 

 range of anomalies. 



Every ever-sporting variety has at least two 

 different types, around and between which it 

 varies in numerous grades, but to which it is 

 absolutely limited. Variegated leaves fluctuate 

 between green and white, or green and yellow, 

 and display these colors in nearly all possible 

 patterns. But there variability ends, and even 

 the patterns are ordinarily narrowly prescribed 

 in the single varieties. Double flowers afford 

 a similar instance. On one side the single type, 

 on the other the nearly wholly double model are 

 the extreme limits, between which the variabil- 

 itv is confined. So it is also with monstrosities. 

 The race consists of anomalous and normal in- 

 dividuals, and displays between them all possi- 

 ble combinations of normal and monstrous 



