THE FLOWER GROWER'S GUIDE. 



Boards 24 inches long, 18 inches wide, supported on legs 9 inches high at the back, 

 3 inches high in front, accommodate twelve blooms ; holes one inch in diameter 

 and six inches apart. The boards are painted a dark olive green, and varnished or 

 enamelled. Travelling cupboards must be provided into which they will fit, for it is 

 advisable to stage the blooms at home. Cut them early in the morning or late in the 

 evening, and convey them very carefully to a cool place ; draw the stem of the flower 

 through a wood or cork plug 3 inches long and wedge the stem at the bottom of the 

 plug with a slice of turnip or rhubarb ; then place the stem with one inch of the wood in 

 a tin tube 3 inches long, filled with water, and fix in the board. Remove any deformed 

 petals with a pair of ivory tweezers and carefully arrange any that have become displaced. 



In arranging on the show-board, place the largest flowers at the back and the 

 best blooms and most striking colours at the end of the stand ; avoid violent contrasts, 

 and blend the colours tastefully. Single blooms of the cactus varieties are often shown 

 in this way, but the usual plan is to arrange them in a spray or bunch of six or ten 

 flowers made as follows. To make a bunch for exhibition select the requisite number 

 of blooms, and twist a wire carefully, without bruising, around the stem ; then take a 

 flower stick and place some green moss on it ; start with a piece of dahlia foliage, 

 then take the flower with the longest stem and secure to the stick ; add two more 

 below this and then three under them, if ten blooms are wanted add four more. Each 

 flower must stand quite apart from the others ; add some dahlia buds to give a light 

 appearance and back with foliage — sphagnum moss is the best to use as it absorbs 

 enough water to keep the spray fresh for two or three days. The same plan is applic- 

 able to the pompon and single varieties. 



Place the bunches in brown vases, raising the rows behind well above those in 

 front. Each bunch should be named on a slip of cardboard 3 inches by 1 inch, these 

 being placed in slits at the end of thin green sticks. Double dahlias are best named 

 on slips of thin cardboard, 2 inches by | inch, secured to the water tube by thin green 

 twine and laid on the board in front of the blooms. 



Selection of Vaeieties. 



New varieties of Dahlias are being raised every year, and those cultivators who 

 desire to be up-to-date must annually procure catalogues of those florists who devote 

 special attention to the flowers. Only meritorious varieties will be mentioned, 

 arranging where practicable under the prevailing colours. 



