38 FLOWERS. 



Other brandies. This is technically called a 

 sport. 



As every bud on that branch has the same 

 specific vital principle, a bud taken from such a 

 branch will produce an individual, the whole of 

 whose branches will retain the character of the 

 sport. 



Consequently, buds by accidental variety 

 may be made permanent, if the plant that 

 sports be of a firm woody nature. 



As flowers feed upon the prepared sap in 

 their vicinity, the greater the abundance of this 

 prepared food, the more perfect will be their 

 development. 



Or the fewer the flowers on a given branch 

 the more food they will severally have to 

 nourish them, and the more perfect will they 

 be. 



The beauty of flowers will therefore be in- 

 creased either by an abundant supply of food, 

 or by a diminution of their numbers (thinning), 

 or by both. The business of the pruner is to 

 cause these by his operations. 



The beauty of Flowers depends upon their 

 free exposure to light and air, because it con- 

 sists in the richness of their colors, and their 

 colors are only formed by the action of those 

 two agents. 



