96 PINCHING 



plants will ilowcr all Summer long and until trost comes. 

 Many can be disposed of by every florist who sells bedding 

 stock, but who wants small plants rather than large ones for 

 potting up in Fall. Another way to make surplus field 

 stock pay is to support the plants properly, disbud them and 

 make good use of the flowers. Your freshly benched stock 

 will not be ready to furnish long-stemmed flowers, while 

 good bushy plants out in the held in August ought to 

 flower, but you should not leave them unsupported, and a 

 little short straw or hay between the plants will help to 

 keep them clean during rainy weather. There is still 

 another way to dispose of your surplus. There is always 

 someone short of what you have a surplus of. Let it be 

 known through a neat advertisement what you have to 

 off'er, but don't make the mistake of trying to offer the 

 plants for sale and at the same time let them flower. If 

 you have the plants for sale keep them pinched back and 

 keep them in the very best condition ready for benching, 

 the way you would want to have them yourself. Stock 

 full of buds and flowers is not fit to be planted, and it is 

 wrong to offer them for sale. 



PINCHING THE STOCK 



If nothing unforeseen happens after benching, the 

 plants should keep on doing well, and get ready to do 

 business by September. The question about how long to 

 keep up pinching may be of interest to many growers, for 

 from the end of August on a great deal depends on it as to 

 when the stock will be in bloom. But even with the most 

 careful cultivation and following the methods we have 

 used with success for years past, no one could set a date 

 when to stop pinching back in order to have a crop for any 



