CROWX AND TERMINAL BUDS 29 



is consequently chosen to continue growth, and all the 

 others are pinched or rubbed out. 



As growth continues the shoot is tied up, thus 

 continuing the single stem, but the point is well 

 marked upon every plant where it made the first break 

 by an excrescence or knot in the stem. There is no 

 definite time when this first break occurs, as it is gov- 

 erned by the conditions of the plant's growth, and also 

 varies with Afferent varieties, some attaining twice the 

 hight of others before the break manifests itself. The 

 break, however, does, to some extent, determine the time 

 when the next bud will form. At some time during 

 July and August all the plants will make a "second 

 break," or, in other w r ords, will form buds and thereby 

 cause another temporary cessation of growth with the 

 incidental conditions as before described. The buds 

 formed then are what growers call "crown buds" and 

 from them they obtain the largest and best exhibition 

 blooms, but only by a properly timed selection of them. 

 If they appear at a too early date it is futile to "take" 

 them, and the same course must be pursued as before 

 of allowing the shoots to develop, then select the best 

 one, and remove the remainder. 



This shoot will grow on and produce a bud that 

 can be taken with assurance of its subsequent develop- 

 ment. These buds are known to growers as "second 

 crown buds." Fig. 7 shows a plant that made an 

 "early break," also a "second break," at a date too early 

 for the bud to be taken, and is well advanced toward 

 the stage of producing a third "break" w r ith its accom- 

 panying "second crown" bud. This illustration closely 

 examined will materially assist in making clear the 

 foregoing remarks. The knot or irregularity in the 

 stem near its base shows where a bud formed in June 

 when the plant was about eighteen inches high. An- 



