222 THE BOOK OF THE ROSE chap. 



The old idea was that the water in the tubes 

 should be as cold as possible. This is now, I think, 

 rightly held to be a mistake, and some hold that the 

 mysterious collapse which sometimes takes place 

 early in the exhibition tent, when a fresh young 

 bloom, generally a dark H.P., suddenly begins "to 

 grow smaller," arises from this cause. I would 

 advise that the water be taken from a clear pond 

 on which the sun has been shining. 



Boses should always be cut with strong sharp 

 scissors ; if at any time a stranger is allowed to cut 

 blooms from your plants, forbid the use of a knife, 

 or damage by the breaking of a shoot is sure to 

 be done. 



Perhaps it is best to commence with the Teas, as 

 these are most lasting, and require longer time for 

 selection. A large number of them hang their heads 

 down, and a great many must be lifted and examined, 

 while among the H.P.s few are so pendulous as Marie 

 Baumann and Earl of Dufferin. Be sure that the 

 examination and selection are thorough : I have gone 

 off once or twice at least without a good Tea Eose, 

 overlooked because it was hidden under some pro- 

 tection. 



Cut the stems long enough : they must be set up 

 high when they are shown, and it is very annoying 

 to find that a good bloom must be set lower than the 

 others to keep it in the water. It is a shock for a 

 precious little plant of Comtesse de Nadaillac to cut 

 away so much wood, but this is the hour of the 

 Eose's trial and would-be triumph, and now if ever 

 it must be prepared to make a sacrifice. 



Some expert exhibitors do httle arranging, choos- 

 ing or setting up at the time of cutting, but, putting 



