282 



Gardening for Amateurs 



Rose Margaret (Hybrid Tea), a splendid clear pink variety 

 exhibition or garden display. 



soot, as described in the notes dealing with 

 Roses under glass. If cow, sheep or fowl 

 manure and soot cannot be obtained, liquid 

 manure may be made AV ith one of the several 

 excellent fertilisers advertised, or it can be 

 made from Wakeley's hop manure. Make 

 a change occasionally to simp'e soot water. 

 As growth becomes active, say in early May, 

 this liquid manure may be given about once 

 a week, and then in the course of a week or 

 two to twice a week, but stop feeding the 

 plants when the buds show colour. 



SJiading and Protecting. As the buds de- 

 velop, shades or protectors must be supplied. 

 Straw hats and other more or less bizarre 

 devices are often made use of. but they are 



not advised. It is gener- 

 ally conceded that the best 

 protectors are West's, or 

 similar ones. These are 

 coned - shaped, made of 

 light calico stretched on 

 wire frames and are at- 

 tached to square sticks in 

 such a way that they can 

 be made to slide up or 

 down as may be needed. 

 These protectors are made 

 in three sizes, 7, 10 and 

 13 inches across the base. 

 The largest size is perhaps 

 the best. 



Preparing for the Show. 

 About two days before the 

 show the centres of those 

 blooms that are to be 

 exhibited are tied. This 

 is done by passing white 

 skein wool round the 

 central, or heart, petals, 

 pulling it carefully until it 

 is sufficiently tight and 

 then tying it with a double 

 twist, not an actual knot. 

 This tie should never be 

 put on more than three 

 days before the show, and 

 even then sometimes it has 

 to be loosened subse- 

 quently. Exhibition boxes 

 of the regulation sizes must 

 be obtained, together with 

 Foster's tubes and wires, 

 and West's clips, by which the outer tubes 

 can be raised and held so as to keep the 

 flower stalks in the water, or rather bring 

 the water to the flower stalks. 



Fresh green moss for the top of the box 

 should be gathered or obtained a day or two 

 before the show. The moss should be well 

 washed, then dried and laid over the top of 

 the box. If the moss be not washed, dirt or 

 grit often gets on the hands of the exhibitor 

 when preparing his flowers at the show, and 

 in this way valuable blooms are sometimes 

 damaged. 



Cutting the Blooms. Generally, it is better 

 to cut the blooms the evening before the show, 

 after the sun is off them, arid to keep them 



