September 20, 1 ill It 



HORTICULTURE 



255 



PREPARING PLANTS FOR EXHI- 

 BITION. 



To a beginner who is anxious to win 

 prizes for flowers or plants at fall 

 fairs and exhibitions, the best advice 

 that can be given to enable him to do 

 so is, "show the best material you 

 have and read the rules thoroughly." 



In regard to the first part of this 

 advice, be will naturally ask, "How 

 am I to know the best?" To help him 

 to understand what the judges con- 

 sider the best, I shall discuss in regu- 

 lar order some of the points which 

 the judges have in mind when making 

 their awards. 



With regard to the second part of 

 the advice, I would advise Doth be- 

 ginners and experienced exhibitors to 

 read carefully and observe the require- 

 ments of the prize list. A judge has 

 no option but to observe the rules in 

 the schedules, and if he finds, as 

 judges frequently do, that four flowers 

 are exhibited where three are called 

 for, he has no option but to disquali- 

 fy such an exhibit, even supposing 

 those four flowers happened to be the 

 finest in the whole exhibition. This 

 may appear to be unfair to a beginner, 

 but it must be pointed out that the 

 rules are made to be observed and 

 what is fair for one is fair for all. 



Another important thing for a be- 

 ginner to bear in mind is to display 

 his exhibit to the best advantage. He 

 can learn from the older exhibitors 

 just how to do this. Still another im- 

 portant point is with regard to cutting 

 exhibits. A judge will seldom ex- 

 amine flowers which are wilted. Con- 

 sequently, it is necessary to have flow- 

 ers or plants looking as fresh as pos> 

 sible. It is better to cut flowers either 

 early in the morning or late in the 

 evening of the day before they are put 

 upon the tables. Immediately they 

 are cut they should be placed in water, 

 and, while it is not necessary that the 

 water should be cold (in some cases 

 warm water is preferable), the flowers 

 themselves should be placed in a cool 

 place. The cellar or the house is suit- 

 able. Any broken leaves should be re- 

 moved, and of course, injured blooms 

 should not be shown under any con- 

 sideration. 



In the case of plants in pots, the 

 top soil should be carefully stirred, 

 and any litter removed. The pots also 

 should be cleaned, and the whole plant 

 overhauled, so as to give it the ap- 

 pearance of freshness and neatness. 

 Sometimes potted plants may be great- 



ly improved tor exhibition purposes, 

 if they are pruned and cleaned, several 

 weeks before they are required for ex- 

 hibition purposes. This gives them a 

 Chance to appear more natural. 



c \ \ \ni w Ploris r, 



LIFTING AND SORTING DAHLIAS. 



The bulletin of the American Dahlia 

 Society has the following to say about 

 the care of dahlia roots: 



After the plants are cut down by 

 frost in the autumn, it is customary 

 to allow them to stand for a week or 

 two, on the theory that the roots may 

 thereby perfect their ripening for the 

 winter and that they are better off in 

 the ground than they would be in any 

 cellar. However, if there is much ten- 

 dency to throw up suckers or new 

 shoots, it is probably better to dig 

 the roots at once, as the new shoots 

 are likely to weaken the roots by 

 drawing away more than they give 

 back. And one must remember that it 

 is from the crown or the stem base 

 rather than from the roots that the 

 shoots for next year are to come and 

 that this crown might be damaged by 

 a freeze that would not injure the 

 lower-lying roots themselves. 



When the lifting time comes, or a 

 few days before, the stalks should be 

 cut close to the ground, using a large 

 knife, sickle, or bush scythe, and 

 making a smooth clean cut. As a root 

 with a broken neck is commonly use- 

 less, much care should be exercised in 

 lifting the roots. It is best to use a 

 spade and to drive it down for twelve 

 inches or so all the way around at a 

 distance of twelve inches or more 

 from stalk, and then lift the whole 

 mass carefully by forcing the spade 

 deeply under the center. It is an ad- 

 vantage if two persons can work to- 

 gether and lift at the same time from 

 opposite sides. Though not so im- 

 portant as the preservation of the 

 neck, it is also advisable not to cut off 

 the tip of the fleshy root, as it is from 

 this end that the first and most vigor- 

 ous fine roots are likely to come the 

 next spring. Moreover, cuts and abra- 

 sions of the surface give the rot-pro- 

 ducing fungi a better chance for at- 

 tack. 



After lifting, it is well to let the 

 roots dry off for a few hours, with a 

 view especially of removing any ex- 

 cess of sap or moisture from the pith 

 or hollow of the stump, as this loose 

 fluid might prove a culture medium 

 for the spores of moulds and perhaps 



might prove injurious in other ways. 

 Some dahlia experts, in packing away 

 roots for the winter, turn the stump 

 downwards so that any excess mois- 

 ture can drain out. This seems to 

 work well, though in turning the 

 clumps upside down, there is more 

 danger of breaking the necks of the 

 roots than in leaving the clumps in 

 the more natural upright position. It 

 is not necessary or desirable to shake 

 off all the adhering soil before carry- 

 ing the roots to the cellar, as any nat- 

 urally adherent earth appears to help 

 prevent drying out and shriveling dur- 

 ing the winter. 



In a cellar without furnace heat, 

 dahlia roots usually keep all right 

 when stored away on shelves or in 

 boxes or barrels without any special 

 covering. In cellars with a furnace it 

 is usually better to wrap the clumps in 

 newspapers or to cover them with 

 sand, coal ashes, or with fairly clean 

 soil from the field or garden, but soil 

 containing much decaying organic 

 matter is to be avoided for this pur- 

 pose. When the roots are covered in 

 this way and when the containers are 

 placed as far away from the furnace 

 as is consistent with safety from freez- 

 ing, the roots commonly come through 

 the winter in a vigorous and plump 

 condition. However, roots that have 

 shrunken much and show no buds 

 or sprouts at planting time are often 

 viable, as may be determined by 

 test. If sprouts have started and are 

 more than two inches long, it is usu- 

 ally best to break them off and de- 

 pend upon new buds for the future 

 plant. Long cellar-shoots commonly 

 develop into weak hide-bound stems. 



COMING MEETINGS AND EXHIBI- 

 TIONS. 



New Haven, Conn. — New Haven 

 County Hort. Society, annual fall show, 

 Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. 



New York City. — The American In- 

 stitute and the American Dahlia So- 

 ciety, exhibition of dahlias in the En- 

 gineering Bldg., 25-33 West 39th St., 

 Sept. 23 to 25. Sec'y, William A. 

 Eagleson, 322-24 West 23rd St. 



New York City. — The American In- 

 stitute and the Chrysanthemum So- 

 ciety of America, exhibition of chrys- 

 anthemums in the Engineering Bldg., 

 25-33 West 39th St., Nov. 5 to 7. Sec'y, 

 William A. Eagleson, 322-24 West 23rd 

 St. 



