148 THE GARDEN BEAUTIFUL 



but very light, slender stakes are needed. For this 

 purpose the best material is a bundle of shakes (split, 

 not sawed.) These will prove generally useful for 

 garden work. 



FERTILIZING 



After staking comes fertilizing, and this must 

 begin as soon as buds show and be kept up until the 

 buds show the color of the flower, when it must 

 absolutely stop, but great quantities of water must 

 be given daily. Manure water, commercial fertiliz- 

 ers or whatever is given should be used sparingly at 

 first once every ten days or two weeks for about 

 three times, and then once each week until the color- 

 ing buds tell you to stop. 



Usually you may get plenty of good stable manure, 

 and nothing is better for general feeding. As growth 

 continues feed more and more. If you wish to get 

 unusual results feed a small quantity of bone meal 

 twice a week, worked into the soil around base of 

 plant. This feeding must stop when the buds show 

 color or you will "burn" the buds, and they will turn 

 black and soon fall off the stem. When feeding stops 

 and color appears in the bud, no further note need 

 be taken of disbudding, for after this stage of growth 

 such adventitious growths can no longer affect the 

 general crop. The plants require a great deal of 

 water as long as any flowers remain. Do not culti- 

 vate the soil about the plants later than the first of 

 August, but mulch heavily to keep down weeds. 



DISBUDDING 



Special attention must be given to disbudding, and 

 all buds below the top ones should be rubbed out as 

 soon as they appear. This is easily acomplished as 

 soon as the lower buds show by "rubbing" them out 

 with the finger tips as they are very brittle. On 



