EXHIBITING ROSES 131 



be in any way crowded. After the lid of the first box 

 to be arranged has been removed, and the box tilted 

 up at the back by means of two small flower-pots, 

 the flowers should in the first instance be untied, and 

 any which are overblown or otherwise unsuitable be 

 taken out of the box and replaced by fresher specimens 

 from the box containing the spare blooms. The 

 largest flowers should be placed in the back row and 

 the smallest in front. As far as practicable the dark 

 and light coloured Roses should be set up alternately 

 so that they may be distributed equally over the box, 

 inserting any yellow flowers there may be towards the 

 centre of the arrangement. It is a good plan to place 

 the two choicest blooms in each row at the ends. 



The Roses having been thus arranged as regards 

 colour, the individual flowers should be set up to the 

 required height. Those in the back row should be 

 the highest, those in the front the lowest, and those in 

 the middle row at an intermediate height, but in each 

 row all the blooms should be at the same level. Before 

 finally setting up each bloom it will be necessary to 

 see that it is in exhibition form ; that is to say, in every 

 case any discoloured or ragged petals should be re- 

 moved, and the outer row of petals firmly but very 

 gradually pressed back at the base into a nearly hori- 

 zontal position with the help of a large camel's-hair 

 brush. In addition to this the younger blooms may 

 require to have another row or more of petals treated 

 in the same way to help the flower to open ; a sharp 

 puff given with the mouth to the inner petals will also 

 often prove of material assistance in effecting this. 



