a bad plan to place the moss on the boxes a few days before they are wanted, keeping them in a light but shady place, sprinkling the moss with water once or twice daily.

With regard to the choice of flowers, we may presume that he only who had formed a tolerable collection, and must consequently have acquired some taste in Roses, would enter the lists as a competitor. We would therefore say, cut such flowers as appear best at the time wanted: a good variety may be in bad condition at a fixed period, and a second-rate one unusually fine. But the exhibitor must, in a certain degree, conform to the tastes of others; and there are points of beauty almost universally agreed on. The outline of Show Roses should be circular, free from all raggedness; the flowers should be full, and the petals arranged as regularly as possible; the larger the flowers the better, provided they are not coarse; and the colours should be varied with due care. In gathering the flowers, we would say, choose the morning for the purpose, ere the sun has risen upon them, or before he has had time to dim their beauty. When the place of exhibition is at a distance, it is often necessary to cut them the morning before. There is full occupation for two persons, besides the advantage of having a second opinion in cases where the merit of two or more flowers is doubtful. It is not always easy to determine this point satisfactorily, for we have not only to consider what a flower is, but what it is likely to become. The business of one should be to cull the flowers; that of the other to name and arrange them in the boxes. It is desirable that every stage of the flower should be presented to view; but if cut the morning before the day of show, the forwardest should not be more than three-quarters blown. Some of the stiff-petalled Roses, which remain a long time in perfection, may be made exceptions to this rule; but their number is few. When the flowers are gathered on the morning of show, some may be full-blown, when less judgment and foresight are necessary.

Some little of success perhaps depends on the taste with which the flowers are arranged. This requires a little study, and we would take nature for our model. Let the exhibitor walk among his plants occasionally with an eye to this point, and he will not fail to single out certain flowers remarkable for elegance of position: this is the true source from which to copy. A nice shoot or two, with good foliage, should be gathered with each kind, for the grace and beauty of the flowers are materially heightened by the judicious arrangement of foliage; and this is a point by which one may judge of the habits of a variety. As to the arrangement of colours, little need be said on that point. Much will depend on the materials. in hand. Contrast should, I think, be aimed at; but with regard to the exact tints fitted for each position, the eye of him who arranges is usually best qualified to determine.

A neat and commodious method of naming is, to procure some deal sticks, about four inches long and half an inch wide, gradually tapering to a point. Let them be painted white, the names written in a round legible hand with a good dark pencil.

But the flowers are arranged, and what is to be done with them during the interval that must elapse ere they depart for the scene of competition? Shall the lids be placed on the boxes, and the flowers be kept closed from the air? By no means. Seek as cool a place as possible, where there is no draft, and where the light is not too strong. There place them till the time of departure. So necessary do many exhibitors consider it that the flowers should not be wholly closed from the air, that they have several holes made in the ends of their boxlids with a small augur. This I have found, by experience, a capital contrivance to admit the dust; and if these holes are made use of, they should be stopped with corks when travelling on a dusty road.

But besides the flowers of Roses, the plants are now exhibited grown in pots; and it remains for us to say something of them. The advantages gained by their introduction are, that the characters and habit of the variety are shewn. Cutroses create a great display, but Pot-roses afford us more extensive information. We may propose to ourselves, while viewing them, these questions :-What is the habit of the variety? Is it a free bloomer, or otherwise? Is it a good trusser? a summer or autumn bloomer? These questions cannot be answered by presenting a mere flower, or bunches of flowers; but the introduction of Pot-roses offers the means of a ready solution. In cultivating these for exhibition, it is necessary to grow at least double the number required to be shewn. This is no overdrawn calculation, as all who have had any experience in the matter will testify. There is no difficulty in flowering every plant, but there is a difficulty in bringing them to perfection by a given time. Remember, the Rose is one of the most ephemeral of flowers, and the day of exhibition is a fixed one. These facts, however, should deter no one from growing for exhibition, for they affect all exhibitors alike: all fight on equal ground; and the greater the difficulties to contend with, the greater is the triumph when achieved. For exhibition-plants we should recommend most kinds to be grown on their own roots. Although with such the cultivator will not be able to appear in the field at so early a date, yet he may ultimately attain to a more distinguished position. Certain kinds will not last long in health when budded: superior skill and great attention may bring them to a high pitch of beauty; but despite of every after care they canker and fall into a state of retrogression.

The principal shows near the Metropolis are in May, June, and July; and to be enabled to shew in each month the plants must be divided into three lots. Those intended for the May exhibition must be grown in a green-house or frame with bottom-heat. It is my practice to select a good portion of the Tea-scented and other tender Roses for the first show, because they cannot remain out of doors during winter, and they improve under this particular culture. They should be pruned early in November, and taken into the house or frame immediately, giving plenty of air, but keeping the frost out. By the end of February a gentle heat may be started, and increased as is found necessary to bring them in flower in proper time.

The plants intended for exhibition in June may be plunged out of doors in an airy yet sheltered situation, that the foilage may not be damaged by the wind. So soon as the buds shew colour, remove the plants to a frame or green-house, giving air abundantly night and day, and shading them from the sun.

The plants intended to bloom in July may also be grown out of doors: they should be autumnals exclusively; and by stopping the young shoots in April a perfect flowering is secured at that season. It is the practice with some to cut off the flowers of the autumnals shewn in May, removing the plants to a warm frame, by which treatment they flower again in July: this, however, we hesitate to recommend.

The detail of cultivation has been given in the chapter on Roses in Pots; it is our province here merely to speak of the management for exhibition. As the plants approach the flowering season, some will be found forwarder than others, owing to their position, or the habit of the variety. It is necessary, then, to calculate which are likely to be in perfection on the coming day, when means of accelerating or retarding must be had recourse to. If the former, a frame with bottom-heat is the best contrivance: if the latter, place them in a cold north frame, admitting air gradually. Care and forethought are especially necessary here. These changes of temperature must be brought about gradually; and a calm and sunny hour should be chosen to remove the plants from place to place. As well might an inhabitant of India be sent to dwell in the frozen seas, as a plant suddenly transmuted from a high to a low temperature. When the buds shew colour, any that are in advance of the mass may be plucked out, when the side-buds will rise and produce larger flowers. Have we, then, reached this stage of growth? A canvas awning must now be raised to shade the flowers. It should not be so thick as to exclude the light: its purpose is merely to break the sun's rays. As our flowers advance, our pleasures and anxieties increase. It is difficult to judge correctly of the time a bud requires to expand: some remain as buds for weeks after they shew colour; others expand very rapidly. The hard buds, of which we may instance Hybrid Perpetual La Reine, and Chinese Anteros, are slowest in expanding, and remain longest in a shewable state. The less double flowers, as Hybrid Perpetual Madame Laffay, and Tea Safrano, advance more rapidly, and are in general proportionally ephemeral. This is the best guide we can offer to the unpractised eye, though by no means an unerring one. If, after all our care, our specimens are far too early or too late, it is better to allow them their natural course than to resort to violent measures: it is better to shew fine specimens not arrived at, or beyond their glory, than to produce what might be construed as bad cultivation. Roses will not submit to the treatment in this respect which Geraniums and some other plants will endure.

We have already stated our views on tying up and training; but there is some doubt whether that system would tell best on the exhibition tables. There, one side is to the wall, so that at best not more than three quarters of a round plant

can be seen. Now it is evident, that by leaving the back of a plant bare, a greater display can be made with the same material; as of course the flowers which would have been needed there are brought into full sight. Yet a skilful judge. will surely detect the false show; and if the round plants are in other respects nearly equal, we opine he would give his decision in their favour. Be this as it may, a perfect plant must yield its possessor a greater pleasure and more solid satisfaction than an imperfect one.

These remarks bring us to the period of exhibition. If the distance be great, the plants should be packed for travelling the day before. All is bustle and anxiety. A light spring-van is the best vehicle for their conveyance, the space in which, from twelve to eighteen large plants will fully occupy. The surface of the soil of the pots should be covered with nice green moss, which, if the plants have stems, may rise in the centre in the form of a cone. Each flower-bud must have a stick to support it during the journey,-unless the variety produce its flowers in trusses, when a stick to a truss is sufficient, but should not be tied so tight as to prevent an easy motion. If the flowers are single, soft tissue paper should be drawn closely round them without compression: if produced in trusses, wadding may be placed among them, to support and prevent them from bruising each other. In packing, each plant should stand clear of the other, and all free from contact with the sides of the van. Between the pots, moss or sawdust should be tightly pressed, at least half their depth, to keep them from shifting. A light tilt must go over the van, to exclude sun, rain, or dust, the last of which, by the bye, it is not always easy to do. But all is ready, and there is nothing like being at the place of exhibition in time. A careful person ought to accompany them, as the pace at which they travel should be a steady walking one. Attention, John! From home to the place of exhibition, all depends on you. You must neither trot, gallop, nor canter. If you do, the consequences will be disastrous. Put your horse to his easiest walking pace, having reckoned up beforehand the time he will require for the journey. Having arrived early, you will find the tents only partially occupied; but the place for Roses, as for other objects, is already assigned. The north side of the tent is the best; indeed, for Roses as cool and shady a place as possible should be apportioned, as perfect flowers will wither in a few hours in a sunny or hot position. In proceeding to set up the plants, it is well to calculate the elevation at which they shew best; to which raise them by means of blocks of wood, of different thicknesses, about the diameter of the bottom of the pots. The sticks used as supports in travelling should be withdrawn. When the plants are all nicely adjusted, each should have the name placed to it in a position where easily seen, written in a bold legible hand, or done in the Egyptian style with Indian ink. At the grand Metropolitan exhibitions visitors are often so numerous that many cannot approach the objects exhibited for their information, then, this is particularly desirable. All is now finished, and we await the decision of the judges, viewing the productions of our

contemporaries, and anticipating the result. Perhaps, on returning to the tents after judgment has been pronounced, our plants are not so high in the scale as we expected to find them. A feeling of disappointment may arise. Shall we take umbrage at it? No, certainly not. This would be unjust, ungenerous. Let us ask ourselves this question: Which is the more likely, that the Censors-men selected on account of their professional knowledge and known probity—men who have no knowledge of either things or parties,-which, we say, is the more likely, that they should have shewn an indifference to, or prejudice against, our plants, or that we, the owners thereof, have been indulging in an overweening fondness? The answer is apparent. And let us ask ourselves again, if there is any disgrace in being beaten? Certainly none. Every place here is honourable. If A produces good plants, it is no discredit to him that B produces better. Nor would it always be correct reasoning to say that the latter is the more skilful cultivator. The air, or the soil, or the means at the disposal of B, may enable him to accomplish with ease that which is impracticable with A. If our plants are good, never mind those of our contemporary being better. Are not both engaged in the same work, both interested in the advancement of a favourite flower? Let us persevere, and we may probably reach the summit of our ambition at some future time.

In packing for returning the same care is requisite as before, if the plants are intended to be shewn elsewhere, or indeed if any store is set by the flowers yet unfolded. Under other circumstances, the flowers may be cut off, which saves much time in packing and travelling. But if the flowers are preserved, the plants may serve for other shows, although they must be considered in greater perfection when possessed of expanded flowers and others yet to come, than when shewing expanded flowers only.

When the flowering is over, the flower-stalks should be cut off, and a second growth will shortly ensue. The Autumnals, which bloomed in May, will flower again in August; those of June, in September; and if those of July are placed in a warm green-house they may be kept in flower till Christmas.