CUT FLOWERS 43 



bud state and opened slowly, and flowers so treated are 

 hardly less beautiful than those that open out of doors 

 and are cut just at their best. Flowers opened under 

 cover are sure to be clean and bright. Grow some of 

 the commoner varieties for a supply of foliage, but 

 always associate bold foliage with bold flowers ; poeticus 

 foliage will not be suitable for "Emperor" flowers. 

 The flowers of a variety in any one vase should be 

 of the same high standard of excellence ; one poor 

 flower sadly depreciates two or five good ones. A little 

 moss, or cupressus foliage placed in the vase will very 

 much assist in keeping the flowers in position, but 

 whatever is used for this purpose must not show above 

 the rim of the vase. 



DAHLIAS 



In the early autumn, Dahlias are very useful for 

 garden adornment, and their value in this direction is 

 becoming better appreciated than it was formerly. 

 Dahlias have lent themselves freely to the art of the 

 florists, and for long years the Show Dahlia has com- 

 peted with the Incurved Chrysanthemum for premier 

 place as the finest example of floricultural evolution. 



The SHOW and FANCY Dahlias are invariably ex- 

 hibited on boards, but as in the case of chrysanthemums 

 there seems no good reason why they should not be 

 also set up in vases. The largest blooms would be too 

 heavy unless severely wired up, but somewhat smaller 

 blooms look well in vases. 



CACTUS Dahlias are usually shown in vases or tubes, 

 and mostly wired so as to make all the blooms in a 

 bunch face one way. Wire frames of triangular design, 

 with rings to hold one flower each, are also used, and in 

 these the flowers are, so to speak, crucified. The 

 dawn of better times is with us, and the display of 



