HOW TO SHOW THE ROSE. 259 



Much labor, head-work and leg- work, is saved by 

 this plan of simultaneous structure. 



The amateur must not exhibit these larger 

 Roses when they have lost their freshness of color, 

 or when the petals, opening at the centre, reveal 

 the yellow *'eye." He must not place a Rose in 

 his box because it Jias been superlatively beautiful. 

 In the eyes of her husband, the wife a matron 

 should be lovely as the wife a bride; but the 

 world never saw her in her Honiton veil, and re- 

 spectfully votes her a trifle passee. At the same 

 time, let not the exhibitor be over-timid, nor dis- 

 card a Rose which has reached the summit of 

 perfection, and may descend, he knows not when, 

 but let him bravely and hopefully set it among its 

 peers. If it suffers from the journey, it must be re- 

 placed, of course, from the box of spai^e blooms 

 which the exhibitor must always take with him /* 

 but if it holds its own, if it is really a Rose, of 

 superior merit, nothing can now happen which 

 will prevent a righteous Rosarian, such as every 

 judge ought to be, from recognizing its claims. I 

 once saw, and the recollection makes me shudder 

 still, a senseless censor thrust the end of a huge 



^ The Roses taken to replace others should be in a less advanced 

 stage when cut. In many cases they will develop during the journey, 

 and so prove most acceptable substitutes for those which, on opening 

 our bo.xes, we may find to be hors de combat. 



17*. 



