93 



PANSY- STANDS ; MODE OF JUDGING, &c. 



As we have not had in the pages of the Florist and Garden Miscel- 

 lany a pattern or description of stands for shewing Pansies, perhaps 

 the above will be found acceptable to some of your readers, and at 

 the same time wall assist me in illustrating my ideas on judging col- 

 lections of flowers. Zinc will be found preferable to tin for making 

 them of; the top part should be painted white, the sides green, and 

 the size, say for a stand of twelve, 13 inches long, and 10 broad; 

 4 inches deep at the back, and 2|- in the front. No doubt some will 

 prefer a larger, and others a smaller size ; only I would recommend, 

 whatever it may be, that the stands are all as much alike as possible 

 at each exhibition, for when staged, the effect is thereby much 

 enhanced. 



We observe that some writers say. We have now got the Pansy to 

 such perfection, that any flower with two decided shades of ground- 

 colour, with a notch in the lower petal, without substance, or with 

 serrated edges, or that is not circular, or with a split petal, or other- 

 wise in the least mutilated, ought to disqualify a stand. Now I say 

 it ought not to do any such thing. To condemn a stand of twenty- 

 four or thirty-six first-rate blooms, as a whole, on account of one 

 having a radical defect, is something like a schoolmaster chastising 

 twenty-three or thirty-five innocent youngsters for the off'ence of one 

 guilty urchin; for my part, I cannot perceive any more justice in 

 one case than in the other. When a prize is offered for the best 

 stand of twenty-four or thirty-six flowers, it does not mean (if I 

 understand the matter aright, the best one, two, or three in the 

 stand, but the best taken as a whole ; then why, on account of one 

 or two defective flowers, condemn it, as if the whole of the other 

 blooms, which might be unobjectionable, had nothing whatever to 

 do with the matter. I am quite aware that it is much easier to 

 find fault than to point out a more excellent way ; yet I shall 

 attempt to do so, with all due deference to those who have favoured 

 us with their ideas on judging Florists* flowers. 



I think the best way of proving seedling Pansies, or seedlings of 

 any kind, and of ascertaining which are the best in different localities. 



