EXHIBITION BOARDS, STANDS, ETC. 71 



roots are placed in clear glass receptacles and in dirty 

 water. Vases of opaque material should always be used, 

 and their colour should be unobtrusive. 



VIOLAS 



The most popular method of arranging Violas for 

 exhibition consists of wiring the individual blooms, 

 making these up into triangular sprays of either six or 

 nine flowers, with a few sprigs of Viola growth, and 

 then setting the sprays in sharply inclined and easel- 

 like stands, the stems being put into tubes of water. 

 Fine colour effects are thus produced, but the method 

 is intensely formal, and it seems sinful to wire up each 

 dainty bloom into position in a flat spray. Black velvet is 

 a favourite background, laid over the stand, for Violas. 



Many years ago I persuaded Messrs Dobbie & Co. 

 to exhibit some of their exquisite Violas in low vases 

 and bowls as well as in the orthodox sprays, and they 

 did so, to the great delight of the general public. 

 But Mr Cuthbertson told me that the time and trouble 

 the newer method entailed was too great for the small 

 amount of time they usually had to arrange a display. 

 If the sprays, made up at Rothesay or Marks Tey, were 

 ready for their showman to put up straight from the 

 packing, the work went merrily ; but to sort out and 

 arrange flowers one by one was too great a task. Mr 

 D. B. Crane has improved on my idea, and he and his 

 son, Mr Howard Crane, have made many beautiful 

 exhibits of Violas in shallow bowls, setting the flowers 

 in damp sand, with a few sprays of growth, or, in some 

 cases, small sprigs of hawthorn. Six bowls, twelve 

 blooms in each, would make a pretty and novel class. 



ZINNIAS 



Practically the same regulations are observed for 

 exhibiting Zinnias as for Pinks, which see. 



