EXHIBITING SWEET PEAS 



as Stirling. Stent, Thos. Stevenson, Helen Lewis), the 

 scarlets, and the blues, should all be protected. The 

 blooms should be cut at the last possible minute, 

 choosing whenever practicable the early morning or 

 the evening, putting the flowers immediately into water 

 and placing in a cool room or cellar until packed. Pick 

 only young, -fresh blooms with' the last flower just 

 open or in the opening stage, as should you be cutting 

 the day previous to the show, it will be fully expanded 

 by the time the judges come around. Cut with as long 

 stems as possible. The ideal spray should have a 

 stem of twelve to eighteen inches long, with four good 

 flowers on it. Therefore, aim at the ideal. If the 

 flowers are wet when cut they must be put very thinly 

 in vases and placed in a room where there is a little 

 heat, but through which a current of air is playing that 

 they may dry off ere being packed, for if they are at all 

 moist when packed for travelling, the flowers will, 

 when unpacked, be found to be discolored and spotted 

 and many of the blooms will drop from the stems. 



In staging the flowers never crowd them. Let 

 every flower "speak for itself." Twenty sprays make 

 a nice vase, and the best method of arranging them is 

 to start by putting some stiff grass or reeds (cut two 

 inches long) in the mouth of the vase, as this helps to 

 keep the stems in position. Each stem must be put in 

 separately. Let every flower be seen as far as possible 

 and all face one way, with the exception of such varieties 

 as have the back of the standards tinted in coloring 

 other than the ground color of the flower, when the 

 position of such, might be judiciously varied. One or 

 two pieces of foliage a little Gypsophila or light 

 grass, such as Agrostis Nebulosa, might with advantage 



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