BRIEF REMARKS. 131 



Thomsoni, a splendid crimson-flowered bush, with short, broad, blunt 

 leaves ; R. pendulum, a small pendulous epiphyte, with small white 

 flowers ; R. pumilum, a charming little Alpine form, the least of the 

 Sikkim Rhododendrons, with pretty pink bells elevated above the 

 foliage; R. Hodgsonii, a tree with very large, broad, blunt leaves, and 

 close heads of pinkish rose-coloured flowers ; R. lanatum, a large 

 shrub, with the leaves tawny beneath, and sulphur-coloured flowers, 

 spotted with crimson; R. glaucum, a very pretty small shrub, with 

 leaves glaucous beneath, and heads of moderate-sized rose-pink flowers; 

 R. Maddeni, a shrub with pointed leaves, ferruginous beneath, and 

 large long-tubed lily-like pure white flowers; R. triflorum, a small 

 Azalea-like shrub, with moderate-sized greenish-yellow flowers; R. 

 setosum, a much-branched shrub of a foot or so in length, with small 

 leaves, and comparatively large rosy-red blossoms. 



On the Running of the Carnation. — The experience and ob- 

 servation of some years incline me to reject the idea that composts can 

 in any material degree either induce or prevent the propensity to sport 

 observable in the Carnation, which we term running. I have, by way 

 of experiment, grown them in soils of various enrichment, from pure 

 sandy-loam to unalloyed decomposed animal manures, with about equal 

 results in that respect. 



Take a given number of plants propagated from the same original, 

 pot them in the same pot, and some will probably be run. I cannot, 

 therefore, understand why, if the compost were in fault, the effect 

 should be partial. I have also observed that in some summers the 

 complaint of an unusual number of run flowers will be pretty general 

 in a particular district ; and it is barely possible to suppose that the 

 composts used by several growers were all precisely the same. It 

 appears to me that we must look elsewhere for a solution of this 

 mystery. I view it simply as a natural tendency to sport (observable 

 in other flowers besides the one in question), and though that inclination 

 most frequently is to return to the natural self-colour of the original 

 typ», yet instances are not wanting of its taking an opposite direction. 

 Thus Ely's Lady Ely (R.F.) is a sport from Ely's Duke of Bedford 

 (C.B.), as Fletcher's Duchess of Devonshire (R.F.) is also from 

 Gregory's King Alfred ; while Pux ley's Prince Albert, classed as a 

 P.P.B , is often a very high-coloured C.B., and has positively sported 

 to an S.B. Moreover, it does not follow that because the one or two 

 leading blooms which the plant is alone suffered by florists to bear 

 happen to run, that the lower ones, if they had been permitted to 

 remain, would have been in that condition. I have seen a leading 

 bloom of Beauty of Wood house (P.F.) a purple self or clove, and the 

 second flower on the same stem a pure white. I turned out last season 

 into the border what I* supposed, from the bloom in the pot, to be a 

 run Ward's Sarah Payne, but late in autumn it produced a bloom low 

 down on the stem, perfectly clean. 



Flaked flowers are not to be condemned as run, if you can perceive 

 the smallest stripe of pure white in them. I have observed that the 

 progeny of such is usually finely marked the ensuing season. Do not, 

 however, mistake white spots caused by thrips for the natural white of 



