72 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



a gardener begins to think of exhibiting, he is 

 very apt to pay undue attention to the plants 

 which will secure him prizes and reputation. If 

 his master is satisfied with the usual monotony 

 of garden-beds, why should the gardener give 

 special attention to what can be of no service to 

 himself? So he throws his whole strength into 

 some bunches of grapes, some dozen roses, some 

 trained chrysanthemums. And this is not the 

 worst of it. The " dressing " of particular blooms 

 has_ recently become an art, and little curling- 

 irons are employed to get petals into their 

 proper shape, and other various devices are used 

 for various flowers. But there is after all a 

 morality in these things. It is allowable to cut 

 away superfluous petals, but it is not allowable 

 to insert fragments of another blossom. This 

 seems to be the limit. Now we confess the whole 

 system seems to us thoroughly bad, and we 

 recommend the managers of flower-shows to 

 forbid " dressing" of every kind. If not exactly 

 dishonest in itself, it leads on, and very easily, 

 to the worst forms of dishonesty. But indeed, 



