PREPARING THE VERBENA FOR EXHIBITION. 
429 
tunity of arranging the flowers in the most 
effective way ; and more than this — as you do 
not want to do anything to them but lift them 
to their stand, you may put them up at the 
last moment, because twenty-four flowers can 
be removed, when you know their places, in 
five minutes or less, when it is too late for 
others to profit by your arrangement. 
There are those who dress dahlias by work- 
ing the petals open, so that a flower which 
quills awfully is very much aided in appear- 
ance. We cannot approve of this ; and if the 
judges used a glass to the flowers, they would 
invariably find some of the petals split in the 
operation, which would disqualify the flowers. 
As a rule, you should put in as few flowers of 
the same shade or colour as possible. The more 
distinct they are, the better. It is the endea- 
vour of some growers to produce all three 
rows of the same size. This is decidedly 
wrong. There should be three sizes, but each 
row should consist of but one-sized flowers. 
The back may be large ; the second, middling, 
that is, rather less ; and the front still less. 
This enables you to show some beautiful gems 
in front, and if they are of a size the whole 
length of the row, there is no comparison as 
to the effect. The potato stoppers keep the 
flowers much the best, and especially if the hole 
is made to fit the stem a little, for the water is 
kept in the tube through the longest journeys. 
PREPARING THE VERBENA FOR 
EXHIBITION. 
This popular little flower is every season 
approaching nearer to the standard of perfec- 
tion, and is becoming a great favourite at 
exhibitions, both in pots and in bunches of 
the cut flowers. There is no plant of which 
the varieties differ more in habit : some tower 
up a considerable height, and exhibit robust 
growth ; others creep along the ground, and 
lie as close as possible, rooting at every joint 
as they proceed, and covering the ground like 
a carpet ; others, again, take the form of a 
pretty shrub, and, if well managed, make ex- 
cellent pot plants. If you desire to exhibit in 
pots, select those of the most shrubby habit, 
and as soon as you get your plant, which we 
will suppose to be fairly rooted, you must take 
off the top, so as to leave only three or four 
eyes ; or if it be early in the spring — say, 
January or February — take off the top two or 
three joints, and strike the cutting for your 
own plant. As soon as it roots, which will be 
pretty soon if placed in bottom heat, pinch 
out the centre eye. This will induce side 
growth, which may be regulated as you re- 
quire. If any of the side shoots grow rather 
vigorously, and go out of bounds, they should 
be checked ; and by continuing to check the 
forwardest until the plant is both the form and 
the size you require, you may then allow all 
the ends of the branches to go on to flower, 
and the plant will be covered ; whereas if in 
the early part of the growth you allow a 
shoot to go to flower, it spoils the rest of the 
plant, and you can do nothing with it until it 
has been shortened, and an entirely new 
growth has been made. The pots have to be 
examined as you progress, and as they fill 
with roots, they are to be changed to larger 
sizes; thus the growth is excited continuously, 
so long as you wish to increase the size, be- 
cause, by nipping off the buds as fast as they 
appear, the growth is promoted, and the result 
is, the whole of the plant blooms at once, which, 
if you are showing in pots, is just what is 
required. 
If you are to show in a stand of cut flowers, 
by all means plant out in the open ground, 
and be content to select the particular trusses 
you are intending to show, and keep off the 
sun from the time the colour is beginning to 
show till the day you cut it. All the brilliance 
of a colour flies in the hot sun. A separate 
shade for each plant is the best. There is no 
comparison between a well grown truss in the 
open ground, in good soil, and the best that 
can be had from a pot, unless the single truss 
of blossom is encouraged, and the rest taken 
away before they grow too much. In fact, if 
we are to cut flowers, we ought to do with 
verbenas as we do by pansies : keep striking 
and putting out young plants in rich ground, 
that there may be a constant succession of 
blooms. The plan at some shows is to make 
large bunches. No justification can be offered 
for this, except the mercenary one of making 
a great show. A single truss is all that can 
show the judges the real merit of the variety 
or of the growth. Bunches may be patched 
up from various beds, and fifty pieces may 
go to make up the bunch ; whereas the form 
of a natural truss is altogether kept from view, 
and the merit of the plant lost. A single 
truss deceives nobody; 3'ou have not only the 
shape of the individual flower, but you have 
also the manner in which the flower lies as it 
grows; for it must be obvious that the form of 
a truss is as important as any property of the 
plant, and that the best-formed individual 
flower in the kingdom would be useless unless 
it forms a respectable truss on the plant. 
With regard to the arrangement of the 
flowers for show, take especial care to be uni- 
form : place darks and lights opposite each 
other, but with one different between ; lights 
at all four corners, darks between them ; or 
darks at all four corners, and lights between 
them. Let not one end of the collection be 
light and the other dark, for it is in the worst 
possible taste, and leads to a bad result. 
