Seed Sports 



cases, these sports are not apt to be constant, as there is a tendency to revert 

 to the type. An example of this is seen in the well-known red form of Mrs. 

 George M. Bradt, which is produced, to a greater or less extent, wherever 

 the variety is grown. While this form has been fixed, to some extent, I 

 have never yet seen a stock of the so-called Red Bradt which did not produce 

 more or less flowers of the variegated form. While in the case of the Bride 

 rose, it seems^ to have been proved that a sport in a rose may be of much 

 more value than the parent, the same cannot be claimed as true of carnation 

 sports, for, with comparatively few exceptions, the latter are of but doubtful 

 value. 



They are, in general, a reversion toward some one of the parent types ; 

 and as the modern carnation is the product of hybridization, and as these 

 hybrids are selected because they are improvements upon the type from which 

 they have been produced, any reversion toward the parental type is apt to be 

 one of decadence, rather than one of improvement. 



Seed Sports 



Among carnation hybrids, frequent variations in seedlings are noted, 

 which cannot be accounted for in the pedigrees of the seedling parents. Thus, 

 a cross between a crimson and a scarlet ; or a cross between two crimsons ; or 

 a cross between two scarlets, all of the parents in the above cases having 

 crimson and scarlet pedigrees, have produced snow-white blooms, though 

 there be no trace of white blood for many generations in the seedling parent- 

 age. Such variations may well be termed "seed sports," and these are, in 

 turn, apt to produce sports due to blood variation, frequently throwing strains 

 of crimson or scarlet flowers, or blooms with wdiite grounds and crimson 

 or scarlet markings. I have seen some remarkable seed sports produced 

 from crimson crosses. In some instances these have been pure white : in 

 others, delicate salmon pink selfs, and, again, flesh pink grounds, delicately 

 edged, or dotted, with crimson or purple. Further, the yellow and white 

 variegated sections are apt to sport backward and forward ; that is, yellow 

 crosses will frequently produce white blooms with the same color markings 

 existing in the parents ; and, occasionally, crosses among the w'hite variegated 

 section will produce flowers with yellow grounds. 



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