SPECIMEN PLANTS 103 



adding little bits of flower and foliage up to the time the 

 judges are announced, but in many instances if they were 

 removing all the little bits that were not required they 

 would stand a better chance of winning the first prize. 



Specimen plants are not prominent features of the 

 exhibitions nowadays, and it is only in large gardens 

 where there is an unlimited amount of glass that such 

 plants can be given the necessary accommodation. At 

 one or two exhibitions, including the exhibition at Win- 

 chester, there are classes for plants carrying not fewer than 

 a certain number of flowers, somewhere about nine 

 to twelve. As such plants are useful for conservatory 

 decoration, or for furnishing half-specimen blooms for cut 

 flower purposes, classes of this sort might well be included 

 in many schedules where at the present time the ordinary 

 group of, say, 10x6 feet or thereabouts, is the only class 

 for plants. A well arranged group of Chrysanthemums 

 is a thing to be admired, and it entails a great amount 

 of work on the part of the exhibitor, who deserves better 

 money prizes, to help pay the expenses of carting. 



Groups of plants and cut flowers mixed may be made 

 very effective and, if anything, more easily arranged than 

 groups of plants alone. The trade exhibits at the National 

 Chrysanthemum Society's shows are probably the finest to 

 be seen anywhere. Exhibitors should grow their plants as 

 well as possible by attending to their wants personally all 

 through the growing season. They should study the phase 

 of exhibiting which they intend to take up well beforehand, 

 and never enter in more classes than they can fill with 

 credit. 



