ON ROSES 333 



flower get so tight a hold of the amateur that he 

 specialises it. He reads the Rose notes in his favourite 

 gardening paper eagerly, and he visits shows. He sees 

 prizes won by flowers that are not a bit better than 

 his own, and he is encouraged to try his hand at show- 

 ing. When he gets to this stage he is wise to join a 

 local Rose society, or the National Rose Society, the 

 rules and other publications of which, and the inter- 

 course with special members, will give him much useful 

 information. The small grower need not feel that he 

 will be overweighted by the large one, as at most shows 

 the classes are divided into sections according to the 

 number of plants grown. An amateur who has less 

 than a hundred plants will find himself protected from 

 the attack of men who cultivate more than a thousand. 

 But even with no more powerful competitors than those 

 of his own class, he will have to grow his plants well 

 to succeed, as competition among the smaller amateurs 

 is as keen as it is among the " big men." Strong plants 

 put into deep, well-manured soil and pruned hard will 

 yield large, handsome flowers, especially if they are 

 restricted to three or four shoots, and the buds on these 

 thinned. If the plants are left to grow naturally, and 

 not disbudded, they will produce a larger number of 

 smaller flowers. The plants should be looked over the 

 day before the show, and plump young flowers just on 

 the point of full expansion chosen. A strip of raffia 

 should be slipped round the heart and tied firmly, but 

 not so tightly as to compress the flower severely. In 

 the evening or very early morning the flowers should 

 be cut, put in water, and kept in the shade. When they 

 are set up for the judges the raffia should be cut, 

 and the outer petals drawn away from the centre with 

 tweezers and evenly disposed, one overlapping the other. 



