April 28, 1906 



HORTICULTURE 



553 



"AN EXHIBITOR'S GRIEVANCE" 

 FROM THE JUDGE'S POINT 

 OF VIEW. 

 Editor of HORTICULTURE: 



Dear Sir: — I notice in the issue of 

 HORTICULTURE, April 14, 1906, an 

 article signed by John McFarland, 

 commenting on awards made him at 

 the recent March exhibition. Ordina- 

 rily such articles are allowed to pass 

 without remark by those who know 

 how utterly unjust and misleading they 

 are; but as you, Mr. Editor, have seen 

 fit to give the article prominence by 

 making editorial remarks upon it I 

 think the awarding judges should be 

 heard from also. I am speaking for 

 the Horticultural Society's judges only, 

 as the Rose Society's awards were 

 made by special judges in no way con- 

 nected with the regular standing com- 

 mittee of the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society. 



In the article referred to Mr. 

 McFarland complains because he did 

 not receive first prize for his vase of 

 Brunner roses and seems to think an 

 injustice was done him. I can assure 

 him that no injustice was intended 

 and in fact he received all that was 

 due him, ior the award was in con- 

 formity with both the rules and the 

 quality of the flowers shown. They 

 were good Brunners but not first prize 

 flowers, as he himself well knows and 

 I will venture to say, knowing the 

 quality of flowers he can produce, that 

 probably, he would resent any imputa- 

 tion that these were the best he could 

 grow. 



I think Mr. McFarland's statement 

 that he entered in both the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society's class and 

 the Rose Society's class and received 

 second prize in both, rather sub- 

 stantiates any claim that no in- 

 justice was done him for the two 

 committees worked independently and 

 neither knew nor cared what 

 awards the other might make. 

 Any offer he may have had for the 

 flowers is of no moment in this con- 

 nection as the society does not pretend 

 to buy the flowers but simply offers 

 prizes for the exhibition of them and 

 when a man enters in competition for 

 these prizes he should make up his 

 mind to take an adverse decision as 

 cheerfully as he would a first prize, for 

 the judges would as willingly give him 

 first honors as any one else providing 

 his exhibit is worthy. I heartily com- 

 mend your remarks in regard to this 

 matter and wish every exhibitor could 

 be made to see the wisdom of them. 

 In regard to the vase of lily of the 

 valley exhibited by him I will say that 

 it was a beautiful vase of flowers, but 

 it was only one among a great many 

 miscellaneous exhibits and it should 

 be borne in mind that money awards 

 for exhibits of this nature must neces- 

 sarily be regulated by the relative im- 

 portance of any exhibit under consider- 

 ation as compared with the whole ex- 

 hibition. It was one of the cases where 

 it was difficult to decide upon a proper 

 recognition. A larger amount of 

 money would have been entirely out 

 of proportion with the amounts 

 awarded other similar exhibits. A 

 vote of thanks would not have been 

 appreciated and a cultural award was 

 not available for there was nothing to 

 lead us to think that the roots from 

 which the flowers were forced were 

 of his own production or even Ameri- 



can grown. If we had been assured of 

 these facts a cultural certificate or 

 honorable mention would have been 

 in order but although the flowers were 

 of high quality there seemed to be no 

 more cultural excellence displayed in 

 the forcing of them than pertains to 

 the regular practice of any careful 

 grower. 



When flowers or plants are put on 

 exhibition it is expected that they will 

 be of the best quality possible. If any 

 extraordinary skill is displayed we are 

 only too willing to recognize it by a 

 suitable cultural award. It would be 

 unreasonable to expect us to give 

 every exhibitor an award of superior 

 cultivation, for such a course would 

 soon deprive such certificates of their 

 value. 



It seems to be one of the unfortunate 

 things about competing for prizes and 

 exhibiting that so many, when de- 

 feated or awarded a gratuity not in 

 accordance with their own views, are 

 so ready to turn upon the judges and 

 accuse them of dishonesty, incompe- 

 tency, favoritism and many other 

 short comings without looking into 

 the matter and finding out the truth. 



It has been my fortune, or misfor- 

 tune — as one may look at the matter — 

 to be closely associated with a great 

 deal of judging and many judges and 

 I can truthlully say that I do not now 

 recall a single instance where the de- 

 cisions have not been given conscienti- 

 ously and honestly notwithstanding 

 all the ill-natured talk so often heard 

 to the contrary, and the conviction is 

 forced upon me that any exhibitor who 

 indulges in such a diversion is doing 

 himself the greatest injury and is in 

 no way advancing horticulture. He 

 belittles himself and becomes an ob- 

 ject of ridicule and suspicion. 



1 Chairman Committee 

 on 

 Plants and Flowers. 



Newton Highlands, Mass. 



"MAKES THE WHOLE WORLD 



KIN." 

 Editor of HORTICULTURE. 



Dear Sir:— .Messrs Watkins & Simp- 

 son, (Seedsmen) 12 Tavistock Street, 

 Covent Garden, London, cabled us on 

 April 21st: — 

 August Uolker & Sous, New York, 



\vish to express our deepest sympathy 

 iu appalling catastrophe to your country- 

 men. WATKINS & SIMPSON. 



We have acknowledged this spon- 

 taneous expression of sympathy on be- 

 half of their many American friends, 

 with a few grateful words of thanks. 

 And we take this means of bringing it 

 to their notice, since your paper is must 

 generally read. 



Yours very truly, 

 AUGUST ROLKER & SONS. 



31 Barclay St., New York. 



PERSONAL. 

 Alex. J. Guttman, the New York 

 wholesale florist, sailed on the Blue- 

 cher, April 19, for Plymouth, and will 

 return by next steamer, hoping the sea 

 voyage will restore his health which 

 has been poor for some time. 



Mr. George Baldwin, formerly with 

 Siebrecht & Son, New Rochelle, N. Y., 

 will hereafter be located at Secaucus, N. 

 J., where as a member of the firm of 

 Carrellis & Baldwin, he will devote his 

 attention to orchid raising. 



WHOLESOME CHESTNUTS. 



Plant hollyhocks out doors, and 

 dormant canna roots in beds and bor- 

 ders. Remove hybrid tea roses from 

 frames or wherever they have been 

 stored into their growing quarters. 

 Have some kind of shelter or shade 

 handy to protect uncovered hydran- 

 geas in cases of emergency. 



If any thing out doors or in frames 

 gets nipped by frost, the first thing in 

 the morning sprinkle with cold water 

 the subject bitten, afterwards keep it 

 shaded for at least a day, or until re~ 

 covered. 



Chrysanthemums are regaining their 

 lost ground. To help them along get 

 a few of the gems of recent introduc- 

 tion as advertised in HORTICUL- 

 TURE. 



Don't lose heart in the attempt to 

 grow Lorraine begonias, some men 

 after repeated failures simply fall into 

 the way of growing them. In view of 

 l his it may also cheer you along to be 

 told that all over the country Lorraine 

 begonias are gaining in favor. 



Cover old stumps of trees, ugly 

 fences, and rough stone walls, with 

 roses or some of the many climbing 

 plants available, but why rack your 

 head thinking what to plant when 

 from Mr. Walsh of Woods Hole you 

 can obtain for a modest sum a collec- 

 tion of roses, that in a very short time 

 will make the most forbidding objects 

 irresistible magnets of attraction, and 

 that will increase in beauty with the 

 progress of time. 



Now the time is fast approaching 

 when most men will wish they could 

 do a dozen or more things at once but 

 it is always better to drop all but one 

 until that one is through with for the 

 time; then go on to the next most 

 needing attention. 



If it is desirable to have very large 

 berries in bunches of grapes the ber- 

 ries should be well thinned at first, 

 ami the vines only moderately cropped. 

 Heavy cropping is responsible for 

 numerous and various disagreeable 

 developments in grape cultivation. If 

 tor any reason two shoots are left to 

 grow from one spur leave a bunch on 

 one shoot only, two shoots are some- 

 times left for the sake of appearance, 

 the extra one to occupy the place of 

 one that failed. Stop the shoots at 

 two or three eyes from the bunches, 

 ami the lateral shoots at the end of 

 every eye right along. 



To prevent mildew dampen the pipes, 

 then scatter sulphur over them. While 

 an unsatisfactory state of the border 

 and the roots may to a great extent 

 be responsible for air roots, still if 

 from the start fresh air is admitted 

 whenever possible it will be found that 

 the number of air roots will be less. 

 A continued close damp atmosphere 

 induces roots to come out to feed on the 

 matter floating around. It has occurred 

 to many that these roots rapidly wither 

 when the moisture in the air has 

 diminished when the grapes are well 

 on towards the coloring stage, and it 

 also occurred to many that it was 

 then that the harm was done, on ac- 

 count of the check suddenly given by 

 the destruction of the vitality of these 

 roots. 



