viii PROPAGATTON 349 



may be cut away — in standards, reserving one or 

 two wild buds only on the worked shoots above the 

 inserted bud, and cleanly removing all others which 

 have been unsuccessful or unbudded, and on dwarfs 

 cutting away the actual stem with all the wild 

 growth upon it to within three or four inches of 

 the bud. 



The buds of Teas will, in many places, require 

 protection during the winter, as described in 

 Chapter IV. Some of the earliest buds may begin 

 to grow even in March, and all, whether dormant 

 or growing, will need constant examination during 

 April to protect them from insect enemies, especially 

 weevils and the black grub. 



Some recommend the pinching closely back of 

 those buds which start with only one shoot, to cause 

 them to break again in two or more shoots. I used 

 to find it necessary to "harden my heart" very 

 much to perform this operation ; and, when a sharp 

 frost supervened one year and killed nearly the 

 whole of these mutilated buds, I gave it up com- 

 pletely, believing one shoot " in the hand (or at all 

 events securely tied up) to be worth two in the 

 bush." It is regularly done, however, in many large 

 nurseries, even with the tenderest Teas ; and I have 

 taken to it again for the earliest buds, as a single 

 shoot is a bad foundation for a good plant. Great 

 care should be taken that the bud is not rubbed out 

 of its socket, as it may easily be by a blow or even 

 an unconscious touch, for then it will be ruined. 

 The first pushing buds are those that should be 

 operated on, and as pinching is rather hazardous for 

 a novice, let those buds which have grown (say) I of 

 an inch be cut clean across by a pair of scissors, or 



