The Garden Under Glass

64 THE GARDEN UNDER GLASS if good cuttings are available after the middle of November they should by all means be used. Amateurs who do not see clearly through the problem of pinching and timing, and who do not wish to exhibit may folio w the plan of letting all the plants break naturally. Those which have not shown signs of breaking by the end of May can be pinched. Then the first crown bud may be secured, or, if this appears before the end of July, it may be taken out and the growth run on to the next bud. Timing is only really needed for exhibitors. MANIPULATING THE BUDS I cannot do better in elucidating this matter tlian quote a few lines which I wrote on another occasion. “ Presum-ing that a normal cutting has been put in and has rooted it will in due course, if not pinched produce a bud, which is known as the ‘ break bud.’ This will not develop into a flower but a cluster of growths will surround it. Three or four of these are usually left and after they have grown for a time each forms at its tip another bud known as the first crown bud. This may be retained or pinched out. For the purpose of illustration we may suppose it has been pinched out. Several young growths will then push out and on each stem the best is retained and the o thers rubbed off. After a little while another bud will appear which is known as the second crown bud. This is the bud generally selected for the flower, but if this were rubbed out the next formed bud would be surrotmded by the buds instead of growths and would be called the terminal, denoting that the plant has finished its growth. The terminal bud is seldom selected for large flowering plants the second crown being the favourite, as it usually gives a better colour and opens more freely. In many cases the first