104 PICTORIAL PRACTICAL CARNATION GROWING. 
manure may be added, together with about a tenth of the whole of 
coarse sand. The ball of soil and roots from the small pot should not 
be broken up, but merely dressed of any loose or sour particles "and 
drainage. The new soil must be pressed very firmly round it. 
As soon as the plants are well established basal shoots (grass for 
next year’s layers) will begin to push, and soon a strong specimen 
will be had. 
Successional batches may be layered to ensure a long period of 
flowering. 
Young plants which have flowered in 6- or 7-inch pots may be 
repotted about the middle of August, and grown on into large 
specimens, which, if properly treated, will give six to a dozen good 
blooms the following May, according to the extent of disbudding 
practised. Plants from 6-inch may go into 8- or 9-inch pots ; plants 
trom 7-inch pots into a still larger size. When turned out the drain- 
age must be picked away, exercising care so as to avoid injuring the 
roots, and the soil from the outside and top of the ball should also be 
crumbled away gently, to the extent of about a fourth. The old 
flower stems should be removed, likewise any dead or decaying 
leaves, thus leaving a neat and fresh-looking plant, bushy in habit, 
and with strong grass. 
The reduced ball may be placed in the centre of the larger pot, 
which has been drained and'partially filled with soil previously ; fresh 
compost must then be pressed firmly round and over the ball. The 
plants may be placed in a frame and kept rather close and shaded 
until established, then given abundance of light and air. They may 
be housed about the end of October. 
Disbudding. 
This is conducted on the same principles a3 recommended for 
other sections, and the details also are practically the same. A 
sturdy one year old plant may be disbudded so severely that it 
CULTURE OF MALMAISONS. FIG. 50 (NEXT PAGE).—ONE YEAR OLD 
PLANT AT THE DISBUDDING STAGE. 
8, plant: a, stoutgrass; 4, grass not so strong, yet, from its position, likely 
to attain vigour when the plant is cut down; ¢, flowering stem; d, side 
growths with terminal buds, ¢, to be retained; f, weak side growth to 
be removed as soon as it can be gripped by the thumb and finger; 
g, crown or main bud, usually giving the largest, though not always 
the finest, flower; /, buds to be removed as soon as visible. 
T, flower stem in outline disbudded to three buds: i, joints from which side 
growths were rubbed out when quite small; /, side growths with their 
terminal buds retained (one omitted from lack of space), all the other 
buds having been removed ; /, crown bud. 
U, flower stem showing disbudding to the crown or main bud: J, joints from 
which the side shoots have been removed, this applying also to weakly 
grass on the lower part of the flowering stem ; m, crown bud. 
