84 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



nence, though nndoabtedly they have existed for a long period. 

 The very curious variegated trees from Japan, though probably 

 some are from seed, are, many of them, imdoubtedly sports, 

 for it is not probable that so many seedlings should be precisely 

 like the parent, except in the color of the leaf. Loudon, in 

 describing one of the very dwarf forms (Abies ClanhrasiUand) of 

 the Norway spruce, states that it was said to have been found at 

 Belfast, but, he remarks, that to him " it was very doubtful whether 

 such a stunted variety as this was ever found in a bed of seedlings ; 

 we think it more probable that it is a continuation by cuttings of 

 one of those bird-nest-like monstrosities that are occasionally 

 found on all trees ; " in reality, a sport, though he does not use 

 that word. 



As we have stated, little can be learned about sports in 

 books, and we are driven to form our own conclusions regarding 

 them. That they do take place on original plants there is no 

 doubt, but it would seem that this tendency to sport is greatly 

 increased b}- continued reproduction from seed. 



We have stated that so far as we know the Old Double White 

 camellia has, in nearly a centur}^ and a half, never sported. Yet, 

 when we look at that incomparable and most exquisite of all 

 flowers, the Camellia Jimbriata, a perfect counterpart of the 

 Double White in leaf and form, except that its petals, pure as the 

 driven snow, are as delicatel}'^ cut as the most delicate of fair 

 hands alone could cut them, throwing a charming fringe around 

 each petal, we think this too, was a sport saved by some 

 observing and enthusiastic cultivator of the Flowery Kingdom, 

 and bequeathed to us as a token of the care which that heathen 

 nation has ever bestowed upon one of the most beautiful handiworks 

 of the Creator. 



The azalea is another Chinese plant, which, at the present day, 

 is the most "sportive" of all that we possess; in fact it has 

 become so to such a degree, that a name signifies but little. 

 Sometimes the flowers of striped varieties are all white, sometimes 

 red, and at others parti-colored, and many of our varieties are 

 perpetuations of these sports, some of which continue true, and 

 others go back to the original. 



As to the cause of these sports we have little to say. Our only 

 theory is that, having undergone so many cross fertilizations, they 

 have become, as we often say, " somewhat mixed," for the older 



