546 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and Mr. Wells.* Again, Viviand Morel (mauve) produced Ch. 

 Davis (bronzy rose) in two places at once. Viviand Morel also 

 produced a light pea- green sport in two places, viz. at Harp- 

 enden and in France. Empress of India (white) reverted to 

 yellow (primrose) in two places simultaneously, and was called 

 Lord Alcester and Princess Imperial. Lastly, " D. B." writes 

 in the Garden (December 11, 1897) about Madame Carnot : — 

 u This handsome variety has sported in all sorts of places," 

 the yellow sports being " identical in form and colour. In 

 addition there was evidently a third sport . . . which secured 

 for Mr. Mease the prize for the premier Japanese bloom. . . . 

 During the present season sports of a similar colour have been 

 heard of in different parts of the country ; and within the past 

 few weeks a sport of the same colour has been developing in my 

 collection — a lovely soft pale yellow." The suggestion at once 

 arises that such simultaneous sporting may sometimes, at least, 

 be due to the common practice of florists " sending out " a large 

 batch of a new variety all over the country and abroad in one 

 season. And if such individual plants sported immediately 

 afterwards, one might suspect that the power was inherent in 

 the parent from which all the cuttings sent out had been 

 derived ; but, as R. D. observes, " a variety may pass many 

 years without showing any inclination to sport, and then, all at 

 once, sports appear in all directions." t When such is the case, 

 the above idea seems to be negatived. So that this fact 

 certainly suggests that the sport is due to some climatal con- 

 ditions prevailing uniformly over the various districts where the 

 sports occurred. It has also been observed by Mr. Payne that 

 nearly all the early imported varieties from China were much 

 more inclined to sport than the majority of those since raised 

 from seed. The old purple, the expanded light purple, the 

 quilled light purple, the curled lilac, and the buff seem to have 

 been those most sportive in olden times. Now, if the above 

 facts warrant one in regarding climate as an inciter to sporting 

 we have an obvious means of encouraging, if not of actually 

 producing, them by frequently introducing plants from as 

 different a climate as possible from our own — say Jersey, 

 Portugal, South of France, Italy, and America, in which 



* Gardeners' Chronicle, Dec. 5, 1896, p. 696. 

 f Ibid. 1889, p. 656. 



