234 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES 



On the eve of the show you must have all your 

 boxes surfaced with moss and sprinkled, set out upon 

 trestles three feet from the ground, ^ here in cool grot,' 

 or in some sheltered corner or garden-shed ; your 

 zinc-tubes, in rows upon their miniature bottle-rack, 

 cheaply made, and having a strong resemblance to 

 the stands on which ' Boots ' deposits our fat port- 

 manteau, heaving a thankful sigh ; and upon a small 

 table your box, containing plans of arrangement, 

 Foster's wire supports, cards with names of Roses 

 written upon them, sticks to hold them, a pair of 

 sharp pruning-scissors with which to cut your flowers, 

 a pair of small, finely-pointed ditto, with which you 

 may sometimes remove the decayed edge from a petal, 

 and a piece of narrow ivory rounded at the end, such as 

 ladies use for a knitting-mesh, and which, very care- 

 fully and delicately handled, may help you now and 

 then to assist the opening Rose, or to reduce irregu- 

 larities of growth to a more natural, and therefore 

 graceful, combination ; add a small hamper of addi- 

 tional moss, and the dressing-room is ready for the 

 royal toilet. 



When should we cut our Roses ? The nurseryman 

 who exhibits 144 Roses in one collection — that is, 3 

 specimens of 48 varieties — and sometimes simultane- 

 ously a collection of 72 distinct blooms, conveying 

 them great distances, is obliged to cut on the day 



