xI EXHIBITING 227 
and, in Teas especially, a man who shows his Roses 
well will often beat a worse performer even though 
the latter have better raw material. An old friend 
and rival (one of the editors of this edition), the Rev. 
F. Page-Roberts, who by his splendid showing had 
often beaten me when I felt my blooms were natur- 
ally the finer, once most good-naturedly set up my 
Teas as well as his own at the Crystal Palace, though 
we were showing in the same class. Poetic justice 
was for once triumphant, for we came out ‘ equal 
first.” 
Though perhaps a pity, it is inevitable that the 
art of display should have this advantage ; it would 
never do for the judges to pull the blooms about and 
see what they are capable of. So the beginner must 
learn how to show his Roses to the best effect in the 
first place by watching others; and he will find that, 
next to experience, plenty of patience with a good 
allowance of time is the principal requisite. 
The first thing will be to ‘‘ set up”’ the blooms in 
their tubes higher than they were, level, even, and 
straight, each Rose so turned as to present its best 
side to the front. The ties should be removed from 
all except those which open too freely, and an en- 
deavour should be made to tie them again one row of 
petals nearer to the centre, the second row being 
encouraged to open out. If any defect should be 
thus exposed in the centre, it will depend upon the 
greatness and nature of the flaw and what spare 
blooms you may have, whether the bloom is to be 
rejected or whether it can be tied up again as it was 
before, so that the defect can be hidden. A younger 
though smaller bloom is generally the safest. An 
old hand by keeping the points of his Roses tied up 
Q 2 
