XI EXHIBITING 215 



getting on, not a single bud of any description 

 remained on the rows which they had devastated. 



The rule has its exceptions : there are certain 

 Eoses which are apt to come coarse, or too full, so 

 as to be too long in opening if they are over-freely 

 supplied with sap. The treatment in these cases 

 must be modified, the small buds being gradually 

 destroyed, or one or more left on till the end. "With 

 some varieties, known as bad openers, the crown 

 bud should not be "taken" (to use a phrase of 

 chrysanthemum culture) but removed, and a side 

 shoot with a bud selected in its place. Her Majesty, 

 Eobert Scott, and Ernest Metz are the better for 

 this treatment : and, as a general rule, where any 

 bloom comes " balled," i.e. the petals covering the 

 centre point and coming down the other side so 

 that the flower cannot open, is a sign that the 

 growth is too strong. In such a case, less "liberal 

 treatment," i.e., less pruning, less thinning, perhaps 

 less manure, or even the pinching off the crown bud, 

 is called for. Only experience, a good knowledge of 

 the habit of the variety, and a regard to the strength 

 and number of shoots on each plant and the 

 character of the weather can guide the grower in 

 this most needful regulation of sap supply. If the 

 season be hot and dry more buds may be taken away, 

 as the Hoses will open easier and the natural supply 

 of sap will be less and more quickly assimilated. 



The same caution must be exercised with maiden 

 plants : some of the weakly growers will give the best 

 blooms if only a single stem with one bud on it be left. 

 But many would come coarse or deformed under such 

 treatment : and in these cases if there be only one 

 maiden shoot, one or two, according to the weather, 



