XI EXHIBITING 221 
think, the superior staying power of modern Roses, 
have considerably modified this view. If the show 
is within driving distance one would naturally cut 
in the morning; but very small advantage, if any, 
must be expected over those who have come from a 
greater distance and had to cut over-night. 
I used often to get up to cut very early in the 
morning, an hour or more before the mowers made 
their appearance in the neighbouring hayfield, but 
have long ago come to the conclusion that unless 
one can cut after six o’clock in the morning it is 
even better to do it the evening before. 
I soon noticed that ‘about six o’clock a change 
came over the Roses, every one taking, so to speak, 
his day's step forward, and that many fine lasting 
blooms altered and aged as much in half-an-hour 
about that time, whether cut or not, as they would 
in the whole of the long summer day to follow. So, 
if itis possible to cut after that hour and yet be in 
time, we may be glad to do so, and can choose 
blooms a stage in advance of those we should have 
cut over-night. But I believe it to be just as well, 
and perhaps better as getting them in safety before 
a chance shower, to cut at from four to seven o’clock 
the evening before, rather than at four or five o’clock 
in the morning. 
Begin in good time: it is better to start at two 
or three o’clock in the afternoon, with the boxes in 
deep shade, than to be hurried at the last. There 
are several H.P.s too, Horace Vernet and Le Havre 
for instance, which shut up their petals towards 
night, and though they will open all right next day 
it is difficult to choose the best specimens when they 
are closed. 
