350 Ever-sporting Varieties 



I have cultivated a new generation of this 

 race nearly every year since 1894, using always 

 the strictest selection. This has led to a uni- 

 form type, but has not been adequate to produce 

 any further improvement. Obviously the ex- 

 treme limit, under the conditions of climate and 

 soil, has been reached. This extreme type is 

 always dependent upon repeated selection. No 

 constant variety, in the older sense, has been 

 obtained, nor was any indication afforded that 

 such a type might ever be produced. On the 

 contrary, it is manifest that the new form be- 

 longs to the group of ever-sporting varieties. 

 It is never quite free from the old, atavistic 

 type of the trifoliolate leaves, and invariably, 

 when external conditions become less favorable, 

 this atavistic form is apt to gain dominion over 

 the more refined varietal character. Eever- 

 sions always occur, both partial and individual. 



Some instances of these reversions may now 

 be given. They are not of such a striking char- 

 acter as those of the snapdragon. Intermediate 

 steps are always occurring, both in the leaves 

 themselves, and in the percentages of deviating 

 seedlings of the several parent plants. 



On normal plants of my variety the quinque- 

 foliolate leaves usually compose the majority, 

 when there are no weak lateral branches, or 

 when they are left out of consideration. Next 



