Jane 24, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
505 
centre one, and if the attempt to take them off is made too soon 
the principal one is sometimes damaged in consequence. A small 
penknife answers best for the speedy and safe removal of the buds. 
When the plants are grown for decorative or late-blooming pur¬ 
poses the number of flowers retained on each stem must be ruled 
by the object the cultivator has in view. It should be borne in 
mind that the centre bud always developes into the largest flower. 
Useful flowers for cutting may be had from the side buds when 
a larger number are required. 
DEFORMED BUDS. 
Deformed buds in some seasons are very numerous, and growers 
of Chrysanthemums are often perplexed as to the cause of such 
growth. These buds swell to a large size, and instead of unfolding 
their florets in an even manner they split in unequal parts and 
become forked and irregular in form. Another kind of deformity 
is perhaps worse than the preceding one. The buds swell to a large 
and sometimes unusual size. The hopes of the cultivator are raised 
at the prospect of extra large flowers. As time goes on and the 
florets begin to unfold, it is seen that the flower has a confused 
centre, or, more properly speaking, it has many centres. The 
florets, instead of all incurving in a central direction, unfold in 
different ways. In consequence of such deformity the flower is 
useless. It is difficult to account for such growth taking place in 
all cases. No doubt it is caused by a check to growth at some 
stage in the development of the flower bud. The incurved varieties 
are more liable to produce such unnatural flowers than the Japanese 
varieties, and more particularly the Queen family is troublesome 
in this respect, notably Golden Queen of England. The most 
frequent cause is the “ taking of the buds ” at too early a period. 
Sometimes the flower buds will form quite a month earlier than is 
required. These, if allowed to remain, will produce blooms of the 
kind I have described. Again, if the plants have been potted in 
too light a manner—the soil not pressed sufficiently hard into the 
pot at the final potting—under these circumstances the necessary 
hard growth required for the production of perfectly formed 
flowers is not acquired. The result from such mismanaged opera¬ 
tions in potting is abortive blossoms. Flowers of a deformed cha¬ 
racter are often produced after a very hot and dry summer, conse¬ 
quent upon the plants not at all times receiving the necessary 
quantity of water at the roots, more particularly after the flower 
buds are formed. This lack of natural requirements must give a 
check in some way ; therefore I would impress upon all growers 
never to allow the plants to suffer in this respect. Another reason 
which causes plants to develope such deformities is when they 
have been potted in too rich soil and during their growth are fed 
too highly with strong stimulants, thus causing the growths to be 
soft, and such growth cannot ripen sufficiently. Some growers 
think the plants cannot be grown too robustly, but that is a mistake. 
Strong growth is required, but it must be built up gradually and 
firmly. 
REMOVING SUCKERS. 
Suckers or offshoots springing from the base of the plants 
which are grown for any purpose are produced freely from most 
varieties, still there are some varieties which are shy in throwing 
up suckers. In all cases if they were allowed to grow they would 
rob the plants of some strength which should be utilised in a much 
better manner until the flowers are being produced ; after that period 
no harm is done by allowing the suckers to extend for the produc¬ 
tion of cuttings. Until the time stated remove all suckers as they 
appear above the soil. There is a right and a wrong way of per¬ 
forming this trifling operation. Much harm may be done to the 
plants by allowing a person to do it carelessly. I once learnt a 
lesson by allowing the removal of the suckers to be done in the 
wrong way. The regular attendant to the plants being very much 
pressed for time a youth was set to do this ; to facilitate his work 
he used a long knife and cut the shoots clean out, some of them to 
a depth of 3 inches under the soil. This, of course, included many 
roots which grow from the bottom of the suckers, and a consider¬ 
able check was given to the plants. In careful hands a knife may 
be used with advantage to cut off the suckers, but the safest manner 
to remove them is to break them off with the finger and thumb.— 
E. Molyneux. 
A CHAPTER ON CELERY. 
There is no more important vegetable crop than Celery. It 
is extensively grown in all large gardens, it finds a place in the 
majority of middle-sized ones, and many cottagers grow if. It 
plays an important part in cookery, is an excellent salad, and its 
uses extend beyond this. In large gardens gardeners soon find 
out that it will not do to treat so important a crop carelessly, 
and it is very well grown in them as a rule, but amateurs are not 
always so successful. Some of them raise plants with much 
care and look well after them until they are put out in the 
trenches, when watering or earthing up is neglected, and what 
with proper and due attention might have been excellent Celery 
is the reverse. 
Celery is by no means difficult to cultivate, but it will not 
bear neglect. It does not need daily attention, but at certain 
times it requires the performance of a few operations, which are 
simple in their execution and satisfactory in results. It is 
attending to it at one time and neglecting it at another, or 
carrying out one operation and omitting the next, that spoils the 
crop. It is of much importance that strong healthy young 
plants be secured before placing them into the trenches. When 
early plants are wanted to put out in May and be ready for use 
in August, the seed must be sown in a warm place under glass m 
March, the plants must be sown in heat until they are several 
inches in height, and in hardening off they must be treated in 
much the same way as the half-hardy bedding plants which are 
put into our flower beds in summer. We pi ant out about 500 
Celery as the earliest batch, these are all raised in heat. The 
seed is sown in one or two 6-inch pots. The plants are dibbled into 
cutting boxes as soon as they can be handled, in these they are 
placed°about 2 inches or 2^ inches apart, and they remain in them 
until they are planted in'the trenches. We approve of shallow 
boxes for young Celery plants as they are convenient to move 
In dealing with young plants under glass there is always a danger 
of their becoming drawn. This may occur by the plants being 
too close in the seed pots, or through being in too high a tem¬ 
perature and far away from the glass and light. All of these 
conditions will spoil the plants in a great measure, and they 
should be avoided. Dwarf plants are particularly desirable _ In 
sowing the seed it is of the utmost importance that the soil in 
the pots be made firm. In transferring the small plants to boxes, 
oi* anywhere else, the soil should also be made veiy fiim. Some 
weeks ago one of our young men in planting Celery in boxes 
omitted to press the soil firmly. Another putting them m a few 
