6 
F. C. Hornberger, Home and Garden Service 
vast difference among Glads, some are 
truly more unstable, or let us say some 
are much more variable, than others. I 
know of some varieties that very rarely 
produce a sport, but there are some 
where the sports are so frequent that I 
dare to assume that when grown in the 
average small garden, the owner would 
discover “sports” quite often indeed. 
If interested in this subject, we can 
supply last season’s catalog with a long 
article devoted to this subject. 
We find many sports each year, and 
we have found them ever since we began 
to grow Glads. Scores have been labeled, 
grown, tested and then discarded, but we 
have proven that they were sports and 
not the result of temporary weather or 
other conditions. We now have grow- 
ing under label sports of many varieties; 
here are just a few. Minuet, from white 
to purple, several of Aflame, our Alight 
is a sport of Aflame, we have another we 
will name “Embers”, and several more 
that have not been tested so long, we 
have several of Dr. N. Shook, also a 
number of Mrs. L. Douglass in colors 
from a lavender orchid to almost white, 
we have sports of Aristocrat, Anna 
Ebenus, Capt. Boynton, Evelyn Kirt- 
land, also sports of Marmora, Pythia, R. 
Diener, Mother Machree and many 
others. 
SELECTION: Many kinds of plants 
need rigid selection to maintain trueness 
to their original type; by selection we 
weed out inferior plants, increase the 
vigor of our stock, and build up superior 
“strains”. It makes no difference if it is 
plants, seeds, and trees or if it is some 
kind of animal husbandry; rigid selection 
is the road to higher efficiency and supe' 
rior products. 
WHAT IS VARIABILITY? Among 
Glads, as well as among other plants, 
trees, bulbs, etc., there are always some 
varieties that show more variableness 
than others of their species. Variability 
is a “slipping away” from the true type 
and characteristics of the original plant. 
I have known of plantings of Marmora 
where you could walk through the rows 
of bloom, and every few feet pick at 
least one flower that had some striping 
or marking of the Emile Auburn color 
on its petals, sometimes an entire half or 
one side of a spike, at other times only 
one-half of a petal, or even a small spot. 
For several years we have had Marnia 
produce pure yellow sports, some become 
permanent, others revert back to true 
color the next season. For several years 
we have had some Marnia flowers where 
the color of one entire side would be 
orange, the other entire side pure yellow. 
Potatoes propagated entirely from the 
tuber must be rigidly selected if we wish 
to maintain high quality seed, true to the 
original type. 
SEARCHING FOR BUD SPORTS 
IN FRUITS 
By A. D. Shamel and C. S. Pomeroy 
(Note: The folowing is a short ex¬ 
tract taken from a long article published 
in the Rural New Yorker, October 13, 
1934 issue.—F.C.H.) 
“The ever-increaseing number of strik- 
ink bud sports which have been reported 
by fruit-growers during recent years in¬ 
dicates a growing interest in this subject. 
However, through an experience cover¬ 
ing more than a quarter of a century in 
this work, the writers have found that 
only relatively few orchardists under¬ 
stand the nature and significance of these 
variations which arise from sudden herit¬ 
able changes in the body tissues of the 
plants. 
Many of the most valuable bud sports 
known in fruits have been discovered by 
growers who live and work with their 
trees or plants throughout the year. 
Bud sports may occur as limb, entire 
tree and individual leaf or fruit varia¬ 
tions. They may be discovered through 
the presence of abnormal foliage or 
fruits, and often both the foliage and 
fruits have observable characteristics 
markedly different from those that are 
normal for the variety. In view of the 
fact that fruit differences are usually the 
most conspicuous ones in an orchard 
survey and are of the greatest commer- 
