Decembeb 13, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



243 



The Basket of Poinsettias is One of the Standard Christmas Arrangements. 



Christmas can be used in numberless 

 ways. The one illustrated was of green 

 and gold and was tied with watered silk 

 ribbon running all around, with a bow 

 at each corner. It was a large size, 

 filled with cyclamen, dracaenas, ericas, 

 asparagus and other plants. It is cap- 

 able of being filled with almost any 

 stock at hand And is such an article as 

 should always be on hand in a variety 

 of sizes and colors in every retail store. 



SPORTS. 



[A paper by Patrick O'Mara, read before the 

 Horticultural Society of New York, December 

 12, 1906.] 



It is with much misgiving as to my fit- 

 ness for the task that I approach this 

 subject, and willingly would I forego it 

 entirely. It is to be hoped that at some 

 future meeting some one competent to 

 deal with it from its scientific aspect will 

 be found who will address this body on 

 the subject and treat it exhaustively, as 

 I believe there are many of us who are 

 intensely interested in it. The possi- 

 bility that I may say something which 

 will induce a further ventilation of the 

 subject here is probably the motive 

 which impels me to venture into it now. 

 It is not my purpose to broadly consider 

 the question of sports, but only to con- 

 fine myself to a few of the leading va- 

 rieties of cultivated plants which have 

 originated in that manner, with possibly 

 a passing reference to a few noted "seed 

 sports," so popularly designated to dis- 

 tinguish them from those which have 

 been produced by bud variation. 



Definition of Sports. 



A ' * sport, ' ' as popularly understood 

 among florists and gardeners, is that 

 portion of a plant which assumes one or 

 more characteristics essentially different 

 from the rest of the plant, either in 

 flower, foliage or habit. The vexed ques- 

 tion among gardeners and florists is how 

 this change takes place, to what prime 

 cause can it be ascribed. I candidly 

 confess to knowing little of what science 

 has imparted on the subject, but that lit- 

 tle leads me to believe that nothing defi- 

 nite has been enunciated. 



The preponderance of opinion, as far 

 as I have noticed it, seems to be that 

 sporting is due mainly to conditions of 

 growth, or to put it in one word, en- 

 vironment. This cause is not accepted 

 by the vast majority of growers as re- 

 sponsible for the phenomena of sports, 

 the general belief being that it lies in 

 the blood, to use the vernacular, or, to 

 put it in one word, heredity. 



Environment or Heredity. 



In his paper presented to this society 

 March 8, 1904, Prof. L. C. Corbett said : 

 "Sporting, then, may be encouraged by 

 extreme conditions. Either extreme 

 feeding or extreme poverty may induce 

 plants to sport. Severe changes in cli- 

 mate or soil conditions may result in 

 decided changes in stature, habits of 

 growth and fruitfulness, which are as 

 marked attributes of a sport as are 

 changes in the color of foliage or fruit. ' 



This is undoubtedly true in the ab- 



stract, but it is when brought to bear 

 on concrete cases that it fails to fully 

 satisfy. If by extreme feeding is meant 

 the culture given to roses, for example, 

 by florists and gardeners, when forced 

 under glass for winter flowering, the 

 question arises why more sports are not 

 developed. When thousands of growers 

 are forcing the same variety, it is not 

 always the one who is feeding his crop 

 the heaviest that finds it produces a 

 sport. The fact, too, that a few va- 

 rieties alone have displayed sportive ten- 

 dencies to the extent of producing new 

 sorts, strengthens the conviction that the 

 cause lies in the blood. 



Rose Sports. 



The rose Catherine Mermet has been the 

 most prolific in sports of the many which 

 have been grown for cut flowers. Its 

 greatest descendants as sports are The 

 Bride and Bridesmaid, the latter dis- 

 placing the parent entirely. If feeding 

 was the prime cause, why did not many 

 growers find a Bride and a Bridesmaid? 

 Catherine Mermet also produced Waban 

 and, I think, one or two other sports 

 which have disappeared. Parti-colored 

 sports have appeared occasionally in The 

 Bride and now a grower has one beauti- 

 fully striped white and pink, the latter 

 being the Bridesmaid color and largely 

 predominating. 



Maman Cochot produced a white sport, 

 and in this connection I would say that 

 when a neutral shade like pink is pro- 

 duced, it seems that the combination 

 which produced it carries with it the ten- 



