Gladiolus Studies — II 



225 



side. This is known as a bud sport, and, being localized, would not be 

 expected to be propagated (fig. 27). 



Except for examples of this sort mutations would be very difficult 

 to recognize, since in order to be propagated a sport must originate in 

 the corms or the cormels, in which case it might easily be taken as being 

 due to a mixture in the corms. The greatest care is necessary to keep 

 varieties from getting mixed either by allowing a few corms or cormels to 

 remain in the soil or by their 

 becoming mixed in storage. 



The fact that some v.-hite 

 varieties become heavily 

 feathered mth pink is not 

 attributed to sporting and 

 should not be so considered. 

 This condition is due to an 

 environmental influence and 

 is not permanent. 



There are a few fundamen- 

 tals that seem essential for 

 intelligent breeding to-day. 

 Breeding that is haphazard 

 may produce results, but if 

 properly directed thought is 

 given, the work will be 

 crowned with greater success. 

 The practical breeder and the 

 scientific man both deal with 

 the same materials, but in 

 vastly different ways. The 

 practical breeder is concerned 

 with the maintenance and 

 improvement of his crop. The 

 student of heredit}' is inter- 

 ested in how the characters 

 are transmitted. He often places the idea of improvement in the back- 

 ground, preferring to study the factors related to his problem ; while the 

 practical breeder is not concerned in the interpretation of the results, 

 but centers his attention on the ultimate attainment of an ideal."* 



Although men have bred plants for years, it was not until 1900 that 

 a scientific explanation was offered for the behavior of plants in crosses. 



Fig. 27. BUD SPORT of black beauty 



E. E. Stewart found among the stock of Black Beauty, 

 a deep crimson variety, one spike which produced four or 

 five blooms much resembling La Luna. This is a remark- 

 able case of a bud sport. The blotch on the lower seg- 

 ments differs widely from the more or less intermixed throat 

 markings of Black Beauty 



* These ideas are inspired from reading the introductory' words from Breeding and the Mendelian Dis- 

 covery, by Darbishire (191 1). 



