Mat 29, 1902. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Cross Arranged by Samuel Murray, Kansas City, Mo. 



pretty little vetch grows only six inches 

 high, has white downy leaves, and small 

 heads of pale pink flowers. Then there 

 are several areuarias — montana, norvegi- 

 ca, etc. ; the familiar white woodruff, 

 or Asperula odorata ; a whole collection 

 of aubrietias; white or red daisies; sev- 

 eral campamilas, of which C. carpatica 

 is best; C'erastium tomentosum, C. ar- 

 vense grandiflorum, C. Biebersteini, and 

 C. alpinum ; and the many varieties of 

 pinks, the beautiful hardy alpine diau- 

 thuses, also Dianthus csesius, D. deltoides, 

 and D. pctra-us. I have seen the yellow- 

 blossoniefl Linum flavum used with ex- 

 cellent effect as a carpeting plant, while 

 the bright blue-flowered, evergreen-foli- 

 aged Lithospermum prostratum is a 

 charming novelty for such a purpose. 



Among forget-me-nots I know none 

 lovelier than Myosotis Eeichensteineri, 

 which creeps over the ground, and 

 makes ' ' dense cushions of blue for sev- 

 eral weeks in April and May. ' ' Oxalises 

 have many lovers, and the mossy saxi- 

 frages are certain not to be forgotten, 

 but I should like to persuade a few gar- 

 deners to make use of Phlox repens. 

 which has fresii-lookiug green leaves and 

 rose-pinii flowers ; P. subulata, the Moss 

 Pink, is almost as good ; P. nivalis has 

 white blooms, and there are several flor- 

 ists' varieties of hardy dwarf phloxes 

 tiiat may be safely employed in the open 

 beds. Potentillas cannot be excelled 

 among ground-covering plants; the 

 double named kinds have really hand- 

 some scarlet, crimson, yellow, or orange 

 blooms; while Potentilla ainbigua, some- 

 times called himalaica, makes a thick 

 mass of foliage, from which rise large 



single yellow blossoms. Saponaria caes- 

 jiitosa, rose, and S. ealabrica albus, 

 white, will be found serviceable, and 

 there are many sedums that can be used, 

 but only to surround very strong-grow- 

 ing plants. Silene virginica, the Fire 

 Pink, has remarkably showy scarlet flow- 

 ers, that are borne only a few inches 

 above the foliage stems. Veronica pec- 

 tinata, a small trailer, with either blue 

 or rose flowers; V. prostrata, white, 

 ]iink, or blue; and V. repens, pale blue, 

 are but a few of the family that I can 

 strongly recommend. There remain fa- 

 miliar garden favorites, such as violas, 

 colored primroses, polyanthuses, snow- 

 drops, crocuses, chionodoxas, scillas, 

 aconites, etc.; indeed, the variety of sub- 

 jects suitable for carpeting is very large. 

 — M. H., in Gardeners' Magazine. 



ATAVISM AND VARIATION. 



Atavism, or reversion to ancestral 

 characters, occurs probably in all 

 branches of organic life, although in the 

 vast majority of cases they must escape 

 attention. In humanity we are familiar 

 enough with strong resemblances which 

 crop up between individuals of the pres- 

 ent generation and the presentments of 

 long-dead ancestors handed down in the 

 shape of portraits. Eesemblance to act- 

 ual parents we naturall.y look for as ful- 

 filling one of the reproductive laws, but 

 it is so common as to excite little remark 

 that while in large families it is easy 

 enough to point out children who are ex- 

 tremely like either the father or mother, 

 some of the others present so little like- 

 ness that they might well pass for mem- 



bers of a different family altogether. 

 Everyone of an observant turn can prob- 

 ably call to mind instances of this clasa, 

 and there is little doubt that in many 

 of these cases a strong resemblance 

 would be found to long-forgotten an- 

 cestors could reliable portraits be found 

 for comparison. 



Apart from inter-resemblance, traits of 

 disposition, habit, and mental tendency 

 also reappear, though these are less easy 

 to establish, because a record is less 

 likely to survive the memories of con- 

 temporaries. Little idiosyncracies of 

 apparently the most insignificant nature 

 may be transmitted, like the case quoted 

 by Darwin of a father who habitually 

 slept with crossed feet, and his infant 

 daughter who did the same in her cradle. 

 The writer was once dining with an old 

 aunt wlio had not seen him since his in- 

 fancy, during which his father died, and 

 during the meal she several times ex- 

 pressed her astonishment at characteris- 

 tic movements of which the writer was 

 utterly ignorant, but which she deidared 

 were exact reproductions of the father's. 

 Atavism, however, goes back far beyond 

 the immediate parents, and its occur- 

 rence demon-strates that every man, wom- 

 an and child, and every individual in any 

 other branch of the great tree of life, 

 must be an inconceivable complex of po- 

 tencies, containing within itself not mere- 

 ly its own individuality, complex as that 

 may be, but the individualities of maybe 

 a thousand progenitors, any one of whose 

 personalities may in the next genera- 

 tion usurp those of the immediate par- 

 ents, and so constitute a case of atavism 

 or reversion. 



In the plant world we have a better 

 opportunity of recognizing such cases, 

 be^'ause the individuality of offspring is, 

 as a rule, less varied than in man. A 

 batch of seedlings, for instance, will 

 generally match each other so closely as 

 to defy individual recognition; species 

 are also fairly well defined. Hence, 

 when a case of reversion occurs, it is us- 

 ually easy to determine as such in contra- 

 distinction to a new "sport." The cul- 

 tivator, however, who studies these mat- 

 ters witli a view to deducing some gen- 

 eral law is greatly handicapped by the 

 fact that Nature is not always ringing 

 the changes, as it were, on her past 

 achievements in the varietal line; she is 

 not like a bellringer with a certain num- 

 ber of fixed notes to which he is confined. 

 Every now and again she introduces a 

 new note altogether into her harmonies, 

 and thus bafBes the investigator who 

 works on the assumption that the entire 

 gamut has been mastered. Her "varia- 

 tions, ' ' in short, may unexpectedly in- 

 clude a new theme, which the would-be 

 lawmaker construes at first as a discord 

 until wider knowledge reveals the true 

 harmony. 



Thus it is with the laws of hybridisa- 

 tion and the laws of variation. Of the 

 harmony of the former we are only now 

 getting an idea, thanks to Mendel, De 

 \ries, Correus, and others who have 

 made it their study. The latter has, so 

 far, defied research ; all we know is 

 that sudden variations occur which we 

 cannot impute definitely either to ata- 

 vism or the evolving effect of changing 

 environment, and as these two seem- 

 ingly dinerent laws affect one and the 

 same field of research, it is clear that 

 definite results are extremely difficult of 

 attainment. The hybridist, however 

 careful and systematic he may be, is 

 alwavs liable to have Nature step in 



