Malfonnation or " Sport " in Sivcdc Turnips 



43 



was impossible that the defective seed could 

 have remained in the boxes of the sowing 

 machine until it reached a certain point in 

 the drills, when it commenced to discharge, 

 ceasing at another point, after the machine 

 had gone ten yards, and that it should 

 have done so in the case of every drill 

 in so regular a manner as to fomi a 

 continuous strip of ten yards in breadth all 

 across, and about eighty yards from the end 

 of the field. 



The peculiarities of the case, as reported 

 by Mr Chisholm, being quite in accordance 

 with those of other instances of "sport" 

 which have come under notice, and feeling 

 that the difficulties of the case would never be 

 removed by any amount of mere theorizing, 

 however specious, our contemporary re- 

 solved on getting specimens of the sported 

 plants from Cairnsmore for the purpose of 

 having them examined. This was done, and 

 the plants so obtained were submitted to a 

 gentleman well qualified to pronounce an 

 opinion upon their nature. The engraving 

 which accompanies this article is from a 

 photograph of one of the Cairnsmore plants ; 

 and it will be observed that it might easily be 

 taken, if examined merely in a superficial 

 manner, for a plant of rape, or at least some- 

 thing very like it. But it was found, notwith- 

 standing its appearance, that it was still a 

 swede plant, defomied, indeed, but possessing 

 all the characteristics which distinguish a 

 swede from rape. 



There is one point, however, which 

 should be noticed. The sported plants -were 

 all more or less white-fleshed. Now, the 

 white-fleshed swede is scarcely known in 

 Scotland, but in some parts of England and 

 the Continent it is grown to a considerable 

 extent. It is probably the hardiest of all 

 swedes, but at the same time it is the coarsest, 

 and no amount of selection or care seems 

 able quite to overcome this peculiarity, as 

 the best and most carefully selected stocks 

 of it always produce many coarse-rooted 

 " necky" plants, and not a few almost as dis- 

 figured or malformed as the plants grown 

 by Mr Chisholm. 



An acute observer who has devoted much 



attention to subjects of this nature seems to 

 be of opinion that the white-fleshed swede 

 may have been the first move to a bulbing 

 plant from the wild Brassica campestris, and, 

 if so, it may not unlikely be the case that 

 when injured in some way or other, or ex- 

 posed to deleterious influences from the con- 

 dition of the soil or other causes, the yellow- 

 fleshed varieties of the swede may make a 

 retrograde movement and seek to go back to 

 its parent. This would, to a large extent, 

 account for the appearance of the sported 

 plants, which we cannot look upon in any 

 way as hybrids, but merely deteriorated 

 swedes. 



The identification of the sported plants with 

 the swede was the first and an important step 

 in the investigation into the nature of those 

 plants, and, if possible, the causes which pro- 

 duce this degeneration. In the next steps 

 the aid of the analytical chemist must be in- 

 voked — first, to ascertain what difference in 

 composition, if any, exists between the sound 

 and the malfomied plants ; and next, between 

 the soil upon which sported plants are pro- 

 duced, as compared with that where sound 

 swedes are grown. 



While desirous to avoid, as much as 

 possible, anything like theorising on this 

 subject, we would remark that it seems 

 probable that climatic influences have 

 something to do with the matter, as 

 we have noticed that cases of sport 

 have prevailed more in some seasons, 

 and in some parts of the country, than in 

 others. In this, as well as in other respects,, 

 a diseased state of the swede plant leading to 

 "sport" resembles disease in the potato. 

 We cannot account for it, nor, so far as we 

 have yet seen, can we prevent it. That it 

 does not arise, at least in all cases, from want 

 of care in selecting suitable bulbs for the 

 purpose of growing seed is evident from the 

 circumstance that " sport" is usually confined 

 to one particular spot or portion of a field, 

 or that while one field may be aff'ected 

 throughout, an adjoining field in which the 

 same seed has been sown has been entirely 

 free from " sport." Some of the worst cases 

 of "sport" we have known have occurred 



