Q2 THE CULTURE OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUM. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS SPORTING. 



There is a considerable amount of mystery attending the 

 sporting" of plants, and many theories have been advanced 

 to account for sports or freaks in chrysanthemums. Some 

 curious facts are to be noticed in this connection. For 

 instance, a variety may sport the first year as a seedling, 

 especially white and yellow on the same plant, or the 

 variety keeps true for several years, and then sport in 

 several parts of the country simultaneously. Again, these 

 sports may produce other sports, as seen in the case of 

 Madame Marie Masse, from which there have been at 

 least ten distinct sports, without counting striped and in- 

 termediate shades. Then there is Caprice du Printemps, 

 with almost as many eccentricities to its credit, although 

 it kept true for several years before it produced the crimson 

 sport, Kathleen Thompson. A few years afterwards 

 there were sports and cross-sports viz., "reverts," in ten 

 or more different colours 'but mostly inferior to the parent, 

 being either bad doers or possessing dull colours, which 

 should not be put into commerce. There are also the 

 sports of V. Morel (including the green Ethel 

 Amsden), Australie, Mdm. Carnot, and many others. 

 Tuxedo was several years before it gave a sport, when it 

 gave a fimbriated one called May McBean, and also a 

 yellow sport. Niveus gave a fluffy petalled sport, and 

 Polly may often be seen with greenish deformed flowers, 

 so that although many plants sport, they are not always 

 improvements on the original. The whites generally sport 

 yellow, yellows 'bronze ; pinks sport white or bronze, or 

 with yellow shades; while white with pink shadings sport 

 yellow with rosy bronze shadings. 



