DAFFODIL ON EXHIBITION TABLE 99 



centre of the exhibit, as this gives dignity and brings 

 out the strength of the collection. Again, it is of great 

 importance to arrange the different kinds so that their 

 colouring and other characteristics may mutually set 

 each other off to the best advantage. Thus the red- 

 cupped varieties should be judiciously distributed among 

 the whites and yellows and bicolors, to bring out the 

 beauty of the more quietly coloured flowers. Such 

 telling flowers as Incomparabilis Mary Anderson and 

 Queen Sophia will lose in beauty if placed side by side, 

 and will appear poor and ineffective if put near such 

 a flower as Lulixiorth, with its cup of unusually vivid 

 red. A good and varied collection of Narcissi when 

 well arranged will give a beautiful symphony of colour, 

 and it is better not to leave this arrangement to be 

 settled amid the harassing bustle of the exhibition hall 

 at staging time. 



A rough outline as to the arrangement of the flowers 

 having been formed, the next anxiety will be to secure 

 as many varieties as possible for staging ; and careful 

 preparation will often increase the exhibitor's choice of 

 varieties by twenty per cent. A fortnight before the 

 show day he should begin to collect any specially large 

 buds which are ready to cut, and keep them in a dark- 

 ened room made as cool and airy as possible. Lumps of 

 charcoal should be put in the water, which should be 

 changed when necessary. At intervals of several days, 

 very thin slices may be cut off from the ends of the 

 flower-stalks ; this will prolong their life a day or two. 

 Flowers of Maximus, and many large-growing kinds, 

 when thus treated, often continue fit for exhibition a 

 fortnight after cutting, and Johnstoni Queen of Spain even 

 longer. On the other hand, buds which are coming on 

 too slowly may be cut a little prematurely and coaxed 

 out in water, in a very warm temperature, a day or two 

 sooner than in the natural course, with little or no loss 



