TRAINING FIRST AND SECOND YEARS. 63 



healthy, well-ripened cane. As the young shoot 

 progresses in growth, the thallons (C, C) make 

 their appearance, and must receive our atten- 

 tion. To secure the full benefits of athallage, 

 it must be performed at the right moment ; 

 this is when the first leaf on the thallon has 

 reached the size of a half-dollar, (if the reader 

 can remember how large that was ; to the best 

 of our recollection, it was over an inch in 

 diameter ;) the end must then be pinched off, 

 (not cutj) so as to leave only the single little 

 leaf. By athallizing at this early stage, we 

 avoid that shock to the action of the roots 

 which takes place when it is performed after 

 the thallon has made a considerable growth. 

 There ' is scarcely any check to the growth of 

 the plant ; the vital force, or action, which 

 would otherwise have gone to the extension of 

 the thallon, is now directed in part to the little 

 leaf and the bud at its base ; the leaf increases 

 in size and improves in texture ; becomes, in- 

 deed, much larger than it would otherwise have 

 been ; the bud also increases in size, and finally 

 bursts into a new shoot. All this has taken 

 many days, but the thallon has not increased 

 in length. After the bursting of the bud, the 

 thallon is allowed to grow till the first new 



