35S Bulletin 147. 



a book ! The references to the behavior of Viviand- Morel ^ which is 

 only one variety, would probably occupy three times the space of this 

 entire article, if gathered from the various magazines. 



After the flower has opened it is not always possible to tell from the 

 plant itself which kind of bud was used. Sometimes it is possible. 

 This year we ascertained from catalogues and by correspondence the 

 , bud preferred by the grower for each named variety, and we have 

 records of the exact date when each of more than 600 buds was 

 taken. The characters used to identify the results after flowering, are 

 age, size, color and form of flower head, size and form of the yellow 

 disc, number, size and form of florets, length of bare neck, size, posi- 

 tion and form of scars, and the angle of divergence caused by the 

 removal of parts. In my limited experience no one of these characters, 

 nor any combination of them, made it certain in even a majority of 

 cases what bud had been used. 



The terms " early " and " late crowns " are much used in England, 

 and the terms '' first " and " second buds " are less commonly seen in 

 American catalogues. The two sets of terms are synonymous and 

 refer to the fact that a crown bud may be removed, and the shoot 

 selected to continue the growth may bear a single bud which is called 

 a "late crown," "second crown," or " second bud." 



If, now, this " second crown " is removed, a cluster of buds may 

 subsequently be secured, and the one reserved for flowering is, of course, 

 the terminal.* The reason and relation of these phenomena may be 

 cleared up by reflecting that all crowns, /. <?., all flower buds that 

 appear singly (and they may appear in almost any month before the 

 clusters of flower buds come) are essentially premature and not designed 

 by nature to produce flowers. " Early " and " late " are therefore 

 seen to be only relative terms, where months of the year might be 

 specified, and "first" and "second" refer only to the effects pro- 

 duced by the removal of parts by the cultivator. 



It is, of course, useless to try to divert the growth of language. A 

 more logical terminology would use "first natural break" for the 

 branching that takes place when plants are started very early and 



*No cluster of buds can ever be referred to as crowns without abandoning 

 all definitions and all clear thinking. I know of no recorded case where 

 clusters of buds appear in large numbers so prematurely as to necessitate 

 removal. 



