EXHIBITING ROSES 89 



varying conditions. For instance, where the blooms are 

 being shown in the immediate neighbourhood they need 

 not be cut until the morning of the Show, or, in the 

 case of the most forward blooms, the evening previous 

 to it. The early morning, just late enough for the dew 

 to have dried off the blooms, is the best time for cutting. 

 The state at which the flower should be cut varies 

 greatly with the variety, some blooms opening very 

 rapidly when cut, while others show little or no change 

 for hours. In order to get them at their best, if they 

 have to be cut over night, they should be taken at about 

 eight in the evening, as later they will have begun to close, 

 and the stage which they have reached will be less easily 

 defined. The blooms should be labelled as soon as cut, 

 and placed in water at once. The boxes should be all 

 ready in a cool shed, not in the open, the tubes full of 

 water and surrounded with green fresh moss. 



When packing the Roses for sending off a strand of 

 thick Berlin wool should be tied round each bloom to 

 keep it from expanding in transit. This should not 

 surround the outermost ring of petals, but only the 

 closer heart of the flower. It is well to have at hand 

 a duplicate bloom of each variety exhibited, as accidents 

 will happen, and it is annoying to have an entire entry 

 spoiled by the lack of one bloom. The duplicate blooms 

 should be rather less advanced than those chosen for 

 showing. 



The art of " setting up " Roses for show is so 

 artificial and complicated that it needs a treatise to 

 itself; it is sufficient to say here that with the help of 

 a camel hair brush the flower should be arranged into 

 as perfect a shape as may be, and kept in position by 

 constant care until the judges have seen it. Taste in 

 arrangement and selection of blooms so that they may 

 help each other without clashing or discord of colour 

 will do the rest. 



