AND OTHEB SPOETS. 485 



to say, bands of red or of violet appear upon the pale ground of 

 the petals of a few flowers ; these flowers are marked, the seed 

 is saved, and so begins the breed of what are called Uniques, 

 at one time the pride of the flower-garden, though now dis- 

 carded for newer favourites. In the same way, first came 

 Camellias, Chrysanthemums, and others. The old purple 

 Chrysanthemum accidentally sported to buff: the buff branch 

 was struck, proved true to its new nature, and became the 

 ancestor of a race of other buffs. The colour of a red Camellia 

 " breaks ; " red streaks appear in the flowers of a sporting 

 branch; that branch is separated, and grafted upon a stout 

 stock; on goes the sportive branch, retains its tendency, 

 produces striped flowers all the better for the new blood infused 

 into them, and the tendency is fixed ; skilful gardeners cut it 

 limb from limb, and every mutilated morsel starts into life 

 another variegation. 



It is the same with vegetables ; a wild Carrot accidentally 

 found in cultivated ground refuses to run to seed, but builds 

 up a root stouter than any Carrot had before. The watchful 

 eyes of a gardener remark the change; the changeling, still 

 a sport, flowers at last; its precious seeds are saved, and 

 committed to still richer ground. Nine-tenths of the seedlings 

 run back to the wild form — but a very few prove obedient to 

 the will of man, shake off their savage habits, refuse to flower 

 till the second year, spend their autumn and winter in the 

 further enlargement of their roots, then rise up into blossom 

 iQvigorated by six months' additional preparation, and yield 

 other seeds, in which the fixity of character, or habit of domes- 

 tication, is still more firmly implanted. And thus begins the 

 race of Carrots. 



Nectarines, Pears, Peaches, Plums, and other valuable fruits, 

 must be supposed to have in numerous instances derived their 

 origin from similar circumstances; they were far more the 

 children of accident than design, and we see to what they have 

 come. , 



Gardeners, then, should keep a watchful eye upon every 

 tendency to sport, wHch they may remark among the plants 

 entrusted to their care. The sports, howeyer unpromising. 



