FLOWERS AND INSECTS 129 



of things get in your way when you look 

 for them. Since finding the white sports 

 on mustard I have looked for others and 

 discovered them by dozens. This sporting 

 is not uncommon, though there is always a 

 tendency to revert to the original type after 

 gardeners have succeeded in turning the 

 freak into a seeming permanence. Our 

 chrysanthemums were never truly fine but 

 once, and that was when they came from 

 the conservatory. Since then they have 

 been made small and unreliable. 



A red petunia paled on my hands, and 

 on some of the other petunias there were 

 freaks of doubling. One whole plant of 

 this species threatened for a time to sport 

 into the double variety, for its stamens 

 thickened into petals, white and plainly 

 visible in the purple throat of nearly every 

 flower. The dianthus was unaccountable. 

 It sent up an extraordinary variety of 

 bloom single, double, red, pink, white, 

 nearly black, in all patterns and shades. 

 Our nasturtiums, too, raised from the 

 seed of last summer's plants, show new 

 colors since last year. Our early chrysan- 



