THE CHRYSANTHEMUM 361 



with hay or paper in them upside down on the stakes. Inspect the traps 

 each morning, and shake the earwigs into a vessel of boiling water. 

 There are many other contrivances for trapping the earwigs, such as 

 bean-stalks and match-boxes, and all are good in their way. In early 

 May watch for a leaf -mining maggot, which quickly works into the tissues 

 of the leaves. Unless means are taken to check the spread of this pest the 

 plants suffer seriously. The maggot can easily be traced, and when seen 

 removed with a penknife, or else squeeze the affected leaves between the 

 finger and thumb. As a preventive the plants may be dusted with soot, 

 or, what is better, syringe a solution, made from quassia chips, over the 

 plants occasionally during early May and once or twice afterwards. 

 Another pest, known to growers as the " jumper," often causes havoc 

 among the tender growths just before bud formation. It is very active 

 and difficult to catch, but by constant disturbance of its quarters and 

 lightly passing the hands over the shoots each time the plants are 

 visited its depredations are stopped. Green-fly and black-fly may be 

 easily eradicated by dusting with tobacco powder, no matter when they 

 make their appearance. Dust the under side of mildewed leaves with 

 flowers of sulphur. 



Buds and their Development Each plant first develops what is 

 known generally as a " break " bud, which is the first change in the 

 plant's life, and so called because the plant breaks out into fresh growth 

 from this point. The bud appears in the apex of the single shoot, which 

 is grown on from the cutting stage, and is surrounded by several new 

 growths. It is usual to pinch out the bud, selecting afterwards to be 

 grown on three or four, more or less, of the strongest shoots just referred 

 to. These fresh shoots soon go ahead, and in the course of two or three 

 months in most cases a bud is developed in the point of each of the shoots 

 grown on from the " break." These buds are known as first " crown " 

 buds, and growers of exhibition flowers frequently retain or secure this 

 bud by pinching off the young shoots surrounding it, leaving the bud 

 quite alone at the apex of the shoot. As many Chrysanthemums, how- 

 ever, fail to give the best flowers from a first " crown " bud selection, 

 this kind of bud is pinched out and one or more of the young shoots 

 surrounding it are grown on vigorously. These in about a month or six 

 weeks each develop what is called a second " crown " bud ; and as this 

 is the more popular kind it is more often retained. As in the case of the 

 first " crown " buds, a bud is retained by pinching out the shoots surround- 

 ing it, leaving each bud quite alone at the top of the shoot. Second 

 " crown " buds invariably develop handsome flowers, and are highly 

 valued for their decorative value in the conservatory as well as for 

 exhibition. The majority of Chrysanthemums develop first the " break " 

 bud, then the first " crown " bud, which is succeeded by the second 

 " crown " bud, and finally by a " terminal " bud. A terminal bud 

 marks the termination of the plant's growth, and instead of only one bud 

 being developed on each stem or shoot, the buds are produced in clusters. 

 The whole of these terminal buds are seldom allowed to develop, they are 

 more often thinned out slightly, in which case they make a charming 



