374 THE GARDENER. [Aug. 



PinsrCHING-WHEN AND HOW TO DO IT. 



Perhaps the subject upon which I am about to treat would have 

 been better discussed at an earlier date ; but its importance to juniors 

 in the horticultural profession, as well as to others who look for 

 counsel and advice from the columns of the horticultural press, may 

 in all probability render it a welcome subject even at this advanced 

 period of the season. 



Many people engaged in horticultural pursuits have but a vague 

 idea of the object of pinching and summer pruning generally. For 

 what purpose do we pinch 1 and how shall we illustrate the practice 1 

 Pinching is performed for two or more purposes. One is to cause 

 a plant consisting of one or more shoots to develop into, say, a bush 

 of twenty or thirty shoots ; the second — and not the least important 

 — is to concentrate the growth and vigour of a plant into one or 

 more stems or shoots, in order thereby to produce a greater degree of 

 perfection in the size and shape of the flowers. Let me give a 

 simple practical illustration : I will take the Chrysanthemum as the 

 most suitable subject. We will suppose a plant having three shoots : 

 these shoots are pinched, and presently the plant develops nine shoots, 

 and so on ad libitum, until the little plant of three shoots has grown 

 into a specimen of three feet. 



It was asserted early in the present year by a cultivator that the finest 

 Chrysanthemum blooms are invariably produced upon the "terminal 

 bud ; " and this expression of opinion was endorsed by the editor of a 

 contemporary, whose eulogy of flowers produced upon lateral growths 

 created not a little consternation in Chrysanthemum circles, and brought 

 the writer of this article at least half-a-dozen letters inquiring if I knew 

 exactly what ballast such authorities could safely carry without foun- 

 dering. " Flowers produced upon laterals being as handsome as 

 could be desired ! " As well might we compare a bunch of Grapes 

 produced from a lateral, with one borne upon the leader of a Grape- 

 vine. But I have undertaken the task of elucidating the practice of 

 pinching, and the time at which the operation should be performed. 

 You pinch a plant, and you then watch the effect produced by the 

 operation. The cultivator who pinches at random says : pinch as often 

 as you like up to a certain date, and the result will be the extension of 

 the plant, and a proportionate increase in the quantity of flowers. It 

 is true the plant will increase in size, and the flowers in number, but 

 what of quality? The finest flowers, says a learned authority, are 

 produced upon the terminal bud. Now it would be wisdom on the 

 part of those who think so to remain silent for at least five years 

 upon this subject, and meanwhile to apply themselves more strictly 

 and observantly to the practical details of superior cultivation, and 

 after that time I venture to think they will have altered their 

 opinions, much to their own advantage and that of others. As a matter 



