should have so far passed the bud stage that 

 the outer petals are half opened, but any that 

 show the slightest tendency to being, or 

 shortly becoming blown, must be rejected. 

 Round the centre of each selected flower care- 

 fully fasten a piece of thread, which may 

 remain until the flowers are arranged in the 

 stand. Always take more flowers to the 

 show than are required for the stand, in order 

 to be able to make a choice when setting up 

 time comes ; but if there are two blooms of 

 one variety, watch them carefully, they have 

 a nasty way of sneaking in and getting you 

 disqualified for duplicating. 



The flowers should always be cut with 

 strong sharp scissors, and with a long stem. 



Some exhibitors may have occasion to travel 

 from one station to another in order to show 

 at a particular exhibition. The time for cut- 

 ting the blooms necessarily depends on the 

 time the train leaves your station. The best 

 trains are those leaving early in the morning 

 or failing that in the evening or night. What 

 ever the time is, the blooms must be put into 

 water immediately after cutting. The next 

 thing to be considered is the way of conveying 

 the blooms. There are various methods but 

 all leading to the one idea of conserving 

 moisture; i.e., preventing the water in the 

 stems and blooms from drying out and so 

 keeping them fresh. When I was at Fyzabad, 

 on one occasion I took my cut blooms to the 

 Allahabad Flower Show in a basket covered 

 with a wet cloth; on another occasion I ar- 

 ranged them in my show box and then took 

 them, and on yet another occasion I wrapped 

 each bloom in cotton wool. On each of the 

 three occasions I was awarded a prize. 



Show boxes are usually provided by the 

 Flower Show Committee, but if you care to 



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