CHAPTER XXII 



ROSE GROWING FOR EXHIBITION 



To enable one to show six blooms of the standard re- 

 quired at the present day, it is necessary to grow some 

 two hundred plants at least of recognised exhibition 

 varieties. I would advise the would-be exhibitor first of 

 all to join the National Rose Society and to attend several 

 rose shows before making any attempt to exhibit. It 

 is best to visit the show early in the morning before 

 the judging is done, to watch the exhibitors at work 

 and examine their boxes of blooms. Boxes must be of 

 certain dimensions and the flowers need to be sup- 

 ported by wires. These are essential to enable one to 

 display the blooms to the best advantage. 



To make a beginning, secure a piece of land — a 

 portion of a meadow, if possible. Have the ground 

 well trenched and the turf buried, and plenty of good 

 farmyard manure, basic slag, and crushed bones mixed 

 in the lower spit of soil. This work is best done in 

 September. In October the order for roses may be 

 dispatched to the grower. Ask for plants on the seed- 

 ling brier. Many growers advise the brier cutting as a 

 stock, and certainly plants on this yield very fine flowers, 

 but the suckers or wild growths from the roots are a 

 great nuisance. The seedling brier is far preferable, 



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