76 PICTORIAL PRACTICAL CARNATION GROWING. 
it is quite certain that if they are faithfully carried out, and due 
attention is given subsequently, success will follow, whatever the 
exact system of potting may be. 
It may be well to caution amateurs not to throw away the weakest 
plants from a batch of seedlings of a choice strain. They often 
prove to be the best varieties. Flower them all, and so be on the 
safe side. 
Disbudding. 
It may be laid down as a general rule in this important matter 
that, just as weak plants of Roses should be pruned harder than 
strong ones, so weak plants of Carnations should be disbudded more 
severely than their larger sisters. 
It is always dangerous to prevent a vigorous plant from having a 
natural outlet. Refuse it this, and it will kick over the traces at 
some part of the journey. In the case of a strong Carnation, very 
severe disbudding is apt to result in coarse or malformed blooms. It 
may be said: ‘‘ Why not carry the argument to its logical conclusion, 
and abstain from disbudding altogether?” But this would not do. 
What we have to aim at is a happy medium—good sized flowers with 
refinement, not huge, coarse flowers on the one hand, nor very small, 
characterless blooms on the other. 
Growers learn with experience what to expect from particular 
varieties. They learn about what strength the plants should be, 
and what disbudding they need, to give the very best flowers. 
CULTURE IN POTS FOR EXHIBITION. FIG. 34 (NEXT PAGE).— 
DISBUDDING. 
Plants in threes in a 9-inch pot, showing the several disbuddings to one, two, 
and three buds respectively. 
1, to one bud (central shoot), the crown or main of the flower stem : w, main 
bud; x, points where buds have been removed as soon as they could be 
taken between the finger and thumb ; y, points where lateral flowering 
shoots were stopped as soon as they could be gripped, this being done to 
throw all the vigour into the main stem. 
2, to two buds (right hand shoot): z, main bud; a, fourth flowering stem 
from the main bud retained; 0, the first bud below the main bud 
removed, because it is likely to appropriate nourishment; c, the second 
bud removed; d, the third bud removed; e, the fourth bud on the stem, 
chosen because it is more promising than the three above, any bud or 
buds on its sub-stem being removed, f; g, points from which lateral 
flowering shoots have been removed. 
3, to three buds (left hand figure): 4, joints from which lateral flowering 
shoots have been removed or stopped as early as practicable ; i, side or 
lateral flower stem retained, being the fourth from the main bud, 
the buds in the axils of the leaves being removed,/; &, third lateral 
flowering shoot, from the main bud, relatively promising and there- 
fore retained, the bud in the axil of the leaves being removed, / ; m, 
points at which weakly buds have been removed, being calculated to 
impoverish the main bud; 2, main bud. 
