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Drive a stake firmly into the ground as near as possible to the bud that is to be covered. Be sure it is sufficiently firm not to sway in strong winds. Slide the platform to the necessary level; slip the bud into the slot, leaving the calyx about half an inch above the stage; fix the platform by tapping the wedge between the hoop-iron and the stake; steady the bud in position with the wire on the platform; and cover it with the pot.

A wooden box for shading purposes should measure about 7 by 7 by 5 inches. It should always be oiled, but its timber should be of a type that does not readily twist or split under the influences of weather. It need have no top (7 by 7 inches) or front end (7 by 5 inches). The back and bottom should be one inch thick and the sides three-quarters of an inch. The bottom should be 8 by 7 inches to allow a strip one inch wide to project beyond the box at the back end. From the middle of this edge should be cut a piece one inch square, just as in the back of the platform for the flower-pot. A piece of hoop-iron is fixed across the gap.

There is no need for a bracket as in the platform, but a loop of hoop-iron fixed on the back of the box will help to steady it, and stop it from swaying sideways. The box is used upside-down over the bloom, and is kept in place by a wedge between the hoopiron and the stake. The bloom is steadied by a piece of twine tied loosely round the stem and then attached firmly to a small brass nail on the edge of each of two sides of the box. A covered bud must never be allowed to become wet.

During the week preceding a show roses should be watered copiously and the plants frequently searched for caterpillars, which are usually most numerous at the two main blooming seasons. Although covers decrease the number of thrips, they act as shelters for other pests. The platforms, pots, boxes, and buds, may be dusted or sprayed with E605, DDT, or Gammexane. HETP is not recommended for this purpose, because it has insufficient persistent action. Systemic sprays are of great use when blooms are covered because the poison travels to the buds in the sap after having been applied to the foliage.

Fig. 23. Inverted box used for light shading of blooms.

Freshly cut roses are usually best for any purpose, but some of the whites and yellows improve with keeping, and are best gathered twenty-four hours or more before a show. They need to be less developed, of course, than if left on the plants longer. Others, especially the "fancy" colours, lose their sheen or even their colour quickly, and cutting must be delayed as long as possible. Some reds "blue" readily. Full-blown roses must be cut last of all, for they never keep well.

A keen exhibitor never has enough blooms of really good quality, and this is particularly so if the gathering of all of them is left until the morning of the show. Even the man who grows several hundred plants can never afford to be so improvident. Every rose-grower is a rose-lover. He belongs to a group of people for whom rose shows are held, and he should help by staging in as many classes as possible. On him rests the success or failure of these beautiful and educative displays. Just a few blooms from each of many gardens will make a good show.