218 TIIE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



rarely broached as a subject for discussion ; exhibitors seldom refer to it 

 in their confidential conversations with each other, and the great world of 

 plant buyers are, as much as possible, kept in the dark, as to the mere 

 fact of the performance of such practices. 



Among experienced florists, who know all the defects to which flowers 

 are liable, when judged according to the florists' standard, there is, per- 

 haps, no moral obliquity in exhibiting them cleverly dressed ; but, as the 

 chief object of exhibitions — at least, as far as the trade is concerned — is 

 to keep alive, and extend the love for flowers, among those who are likely 

 to become purchasers, every adventitious excellence, and every concealed 

 defect, is to be reprehended, as likely to lead purchasers into error in their 

 selections, and hence bring discredit on the craft of gardeners. It is all 

 very well for those who are " canny " in such matters, to assume that 

 amateurs know, or ought to know, the peculiarities of individual flowers ; 

 but the truth is, that those who have made some progress in floral criti- 

 cism, have, through the performances of the gouge and tweezers, generally 

 paid pretty dearly for it, and those who have no such experience, are 

 likely to be grossly deceived, to their cost, if they begin by purchasing 

 from stands at exhibitions. We do not deny but that a dressed flower 

 has a much more beautiful and complete appearance than one of the 

 same variety shown in its original state, supposing it to be one of those 

 that need help from a dexterous hand ; but the question is, are we to 

 give full license to exhibitors to do as they please with their flowers, 

 and let it be publicly understood that the dresser need do nothing 

 in secret — or are we to require that every flower shall be shown, just as 

 it was produced by the parent plant, and as it will again be produced, if 

 properly grown in the garden of an amateur purchaser. Suppose a per- 

 son, not very learned in dahlias, were to select Fanny Keynes, Queen 

 Victoria, Midnight, or Captain Ingram, relying on the utter absence of 

 a green centre, as one criterion of their excellence. What Avould be his 

 surprise and disappointment, when his plants came into bloom, to find 

 that every flower on his selected sorts, had the very defect of which 

 he thought them so free. He would probably account himself less able 

 to bloom a dahlia properly, than the competing florist ; he would hardly 

 imagine that the flowers on which he set his heart with so much hope to 

 equal them the next season, were presented to him with a false face, with, 

 in fact, their eyes gouged out ! 



The practice is universal ; every exhibition is a new example of it, yet 

 it is just the one fact connected with flower shows, about which nobody 

 has a word to say — mutually understood, it is dealt with as a secret — 

 mutually practiced, it is guarded by silence. Take a dahlia flower that 

 is known to form a hard eye: — It has the green scales pricked out from 

 the centre, at an early period of its growth, and the vacancy is in time 

 filled up by petals, so that when shoAvn, it bears the description, "well 

 up in the centre." If the grower has neglected to remove the scales 

 during the growth of the flower, he may, at a late period — even on the day 

 of the show — use the gouge, which scoops out the green centre entire, and 

 with a little manipulation with the tweezers, the hollow is hidden by the 

 petals that surround it. Petals that have come false in colour, which is 

 a defect common to dahlias, are dexterously plucked out, and if the 

 petals crowd each other, a number of them are removed, and those that 



