74 AMERICAN CARNATION CULTURE. 



florists and the public as concise and descriptive. The system ar- 

 ranged the colors of all carnation flowers into seven classes, which 

 are white, scarlet, crimson, pink, yellow, yellow- variegated and 

 white-variegated. Nineteen-twentieths of all the leading colors 

 pass naturally under these seven classified heads. 



A shaded carnation is one of these leading colors toned or 

 modified by another. 



A flaked carnation has irregular blotches of a different color 

 impressed on one of the above colors. 



A penciled carnation has straight parallel lines of different 

 lengths impressed on the petals bearing a predominance of- one of 

 the above colors. 



I have never seen a carnation flower with diversified colors 

 but they were impressed upon a ground color in which white or 

 yellow largely predominated, these being the base on which all 

 variegations are painted. 



Buttercup is a typical yellow- variegated carnation. It has 

 vermilion pencilings on a yellow ground. Chester Pride is a fine 

 sample of a white-variegated carnation with carmine stripes on a 

 pure white ground. Pink, scarlet and crimson are intensified 

 shades of the same color. The white class ranges from absolute 

 purity to a tinge of cream or pink. The yellow from deep orange 

 to light lemon. The pink from a cherry red to the slightest blush. 



The demand for white carnation flowers equals those of all 

 other colors. In hardy pinks, the variegations are always across 

 the petals; in carnations they are parallel with the axis. The yel- 

 low colored carnations are the slowest to develop into a satisfactory 

 class. They are more capricious, or susceptible to uncongenial 

 conditions than the other colors. It can be said there is not a 

 satisfactory yellow in cultivation. Many growers use a yellow- 

 variegated kind as a substitute for a pure yellow. 



The American system of color nomenclature is preferable to 

 the one in Europe, which divides the strains of colors intobizzars, 

 selfs, fancies and flakes. V 



The cause of diversity of colors in carnation flowers can 

 never be scientifically demonstrated. Selection of color in parents, 



