88 PICTORIAL PRACTICAL CARNATION GROWING. 
declare, are not educated up to the higher plane, but are superficial 
and badly informed. 
In what is professedly a practical book it would be out of place 
to take sides on what is, after all, a question of taste. Whether 
collars shall or shall not be used is a question for the majority of the 
authorities to settle. As they declare in favour of collars, we must 
assume that these adjuncts are a necessary part of the exhibitor’s 
equipment, and give them a little attention. 
The collar may consist of a circular portion of medium Bristol 
cardboard, about 4 inches in diameter. It affords, so to say, a 
groundwork for the flower. Being a little longer all round than 
the latter, the bloom is shown up by a margin of pure white. 
Good points are readily observable; bad ones are easily de- 
tected. A slit running from the outer edge of the collar leads 
up to a circular opening, a little wider than the calyx tube, at the 
centre. In order to get the flower in, the exhibitor depresses one 
edge of the slit and raises the other; then settles it round the 
petals above the calyx lobes, which are turned down with 
tweezers, and on which the card rests. The slit can be closed by 
neatly gumming a piece of white paper underneath. 
The outer or guard petals of the bloom will show when the 
time for “collaring” has arrived. Directly they begin to turn 
down, fix the collar in position. These guard petals will rest on 
the collar, and with careful dressing (which will be discussed 
separately) the inner ones will be evenly disposed to the centre, 
each slightly overlapping the one below it, but all clearly visible 
in their full substance and purity. 
It is undeniable that a stand of first class flowers, well finished 
and displayed, appeals with overpowering force to an educated 
eye. 
Dressing the Blooms. 
A certain amount of dressing is necessary to finish off flowers 
intended for the show board. There is such a thing as overdressing, 
and competent judges are able to discern and punish it. But this 
FIG. 40 (NEXT PAGE).—COLLARS. 
R, collar, and outline of bloom affixed: e, stem; f, bracts; g, calyx or pod; 
h, indiarubber ring to keep the calyx lobes from splitting ; 2, calyx lobes 
or teeth turned down with steel tweezers about horizontally with the 
base of the indents, thus forming a rest for the collar, which girdles the 
petals; 7, aperture about one-third larger than the diameter of the 
calyx tube at the point of turning down of the calyx lobes; /, collar; 
i, slit in the collar from the central aperture to the edge, so that by 
opening one edge upward and the other downward it may be passed 
round the petals, the collar resting on the calyx lobes; m, outer or 
guard petals commencing to turn down—the latest stage for “collaring,” 
so that they may develop flat, », on the collar. 
S, effect of collaring, as shown on a Self bloom: o, collar; yp, outer or 
guard petals. 
