52 The Dahlia 



yellow, maroon, and white. The care bestowed on 

 arranging a stand often means the difference between 

 first and second prize. 



It is also most important that all the flowers be 

 carefully and legibly named : this counts several points 

 in a close competition. There are several methods of 

 naming, many of them very slipshod. One very good 

 plan is to write the name neatly on cards 2^- inches 

 long by 1 inch in width, and support them with brass 

 pins, 1^ inches long, in front of the bloom. Another 

 way is to use cards of the same size as those before- 

 mentioned, and attach them with very thin green 

 twine to the Dahlia tube, the card lying flat on the 

 board in front of the bloom. 



Cactus varieties are now often exhibited as single 

 blooms like the show dahlias. They are also shown 

 in sprays of six or ten blooms, arranged in pyramidal 

 shape. For sprays cut the blooms with the longest 

 possible stems, selecting those with good double centres, 

 for one bloom with a bad centre will spoil a bunch. 

 Twist a wire round the stalk of each bloom. Then take 

 a thin flower stake, 12 inches long, and fasten to it, 

 with raffia, a nice piece of Dahlia foliage, then place 

 a flower, with a long stalk, on the top to form the 

 apex of the bunch ; work in some green moss, then 

 two more flowers, then three flowers, keeping plenty 

 of moss all down the stem, to convey moisture to any 

 flowers with short stems, back up with foliage and 

 introduce some good unopened buds amongst the 

 flowers, to give the spray a more graceful appearance. 

 Each flower should be kept quite clear of the others. 

 If ten blooms are required add more blooms at the 

 bottom of the bunch. 



