observed an odd number forms the handsomest 
truss of flowers ; if, by accident, you take two 
out at one place, where you only intended to 
take out one, it will prove of no consequence, 
if thinned out very early : all those that re- 
main by the time they are in full bloom, will 
have grown to large and magnificent pips, 
and the truss of flowers will appear more 
splendid than if a greater number of blos- 
soms had been suffered to blow ; for al- 
though you do not have them in quantity, 
you have them in magnitude. If a truss of 
flowers would produce only eighteen or nine- 
teen pips, your own judgment will inform you 
in what manner they should be thinned out, 
say rather more than one-third. I should re- 
commend the truss to be reduced to ten or 
twelve pips ; this mode of thinning out must 
be of great utility to a flower that is inclined 
to be short-fingered, besides, it gives a greater 
opportunity for the pips to grow round, and 
come well shaped : nine, ten, and eleven large 
pips of Grimes’s Privateer, is plenty to shew for 
a prize. All those flowers you intend for the 
stage, or any other shady situation, do not re- 
quire thinning out ^ it being only requisite for 
the choice sorts you intend to exhibit for 
prizes, 
