550 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Note on Fig. 117 — " Dissociation." 



" The question of the origin of these erratic productions — 

 Sports — often arises. For our own part, we are convinced that 

 one reason for their production may be found in the separation 

 or unmixing of previously- combined characteristics. A cross, 

 of whatever degree, is simply a combination of different 

 characters and different modes of growth. Modern researches 

 into the mode of growth of the nucleus of the cell show how 

 the new plant results from the combination of the particles of 

 one nucleus, the male, with the corresponding segments of 

 another, or female, nucleus. (See pages 448, 449, 450.) And 

 the combination of particles is not hap -hazard, but in definite 

 numerical proportion. Now, if the combination should, by 

 exception, be imperfect or unstable, the result would be the 

 production of a 1 Sport.' " 



4 ' It is simple enough — C is of mixed origin = A + B. For 

 some at present occult reason, the mixture is not stable, and 

 instead of C, we have AB side by side, as in Fig. 117, instead 

 of in amalgamation. It supplies one way of accounting for 

 some ' Sports.' " 



M. T. M. 



