76 THE CARNATION MANUAL. 



RUNNING OF CARNATIONS. 



The sporting or " running," as it is termed, of the 

 Bizarres and Flakes, by which the flowers become 

 either self-coloured or retam the marking in deeper 

 hues upon ground that has become wholly suifused 

 with colour, is a frequent trouble to the cultivator 

 of these flowers. " Why do Carnations run ? " is a 

 conundrum to which no one has hitherto found the 

 true answer. It used to be thought that too 

 highly manured soil was the most frequent cause of 

 it, but experiments made mth every kind of soil, 

 from pure loam to manure alone, have given much 

 the same results, and the soil theory is now gener- 

 ally discarded. 



Asrain, it has been thoug-ht that cold, wet sum- 

 mers are mainly answerable for the trouble. But 

 for my o^vn part I have never had so many run 

 flowers as in the long dry summer of 1887, nor so 

 few as in the very cold and wet one of 1888. Hogg, 

 writing in 1819, speaks of the universal prevalence 

 of run flowers in the exceptionally hot summer of 

 the previous year, and it is the only piece of 

 positive evidence he had to offer on the subject ; 

 and similar evidence is about all we have now. 



The run flowers, whether taking the form of 

 Selfs or of Fancies (coloured ground with markings 

 as abeady described), are often very handsome, and 

 one is frequently tempted to layer the stock of 



