THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



613 



bring a greater exhibition to San Francisco than has ever 

 been brought to an)- of the previous great expositions. 



In addition to the exhibits, which will contain displays 

 of implements used in the culture of Bowers, as well as 

 operative methods of the industry, there will be various 

 congresses and conventions held during the Exposition 

 year at San Francisco. These conventions will bring the 

 experts from all over the world together who will discuss 

 questions incident to the industry of horticulture. 



It has been stipulated in the letting of the contract for 

 the building of the Palace of Horticulture that the build- 

 ing shall be completed by July, 1914, eight months before 

 the opening of the Exposition. Such an arrangement 

 makes it possible for those who participate in the out-of- 

 doors e.vhiliit to plant their stock in permanent position 

 and have it in place sufficiently long for it to become 

 thoroughly acclimatized. All displays will thus have 

 obtained a perfect root setting, allowing the plants to 

 develop under conditions which will be as nearly normal 

 as it is possible to secure. 



One of the features of the horticultural exhibit will 

 be the presentation of the study of insectology and its 

 important bearing upon the culture of fruit and the 

 eradication of fruit pests. Californian authorities have 

 effected remarkable results in this particular direction 

 and the exhibits of the results of their work promises to 

 be of inestimable value to the .student as well as to the 

 practical horticulturist. 



EXHIBITION REFORMS. 



Editor, G-\rdeners' Chronicle of America: 



I am often asking myself whether all the flummery of 

 secrecy with which we surround our horticultural exhi- 

 bitions is in any way justified. I say flummery very delib- 

 erately liecause the whole thing as it stands today with the 

 clerical machinery of the secretary's office usually inade- 

 quate and the fact that the personality of the contestants 

 is not always a quite unknown quantity, makes the whole 

 thing, to my eyes, at least, look like a cumbersome and 

 misapplied joke. Is it not time that the work of judging 

 at horticultural shows be done in the open, as is most 

 judging in other lines? We know of "legal fictions" — 

 things that are patent and known to everybody, but which 

 mu>t not be "legally" known to the court. And here we 

 are injecting "legal fictions" into our flower shows. The 

 judge who is worth his salt can surely be trusted to judge 

 the priDducts before him on their merits, as they stand on 

 the table. If the man fulfilling the duties is to be swerved 

 by a knowledge of extraneous facts, he is not fit to be a 

 judge, and. anyhow, liis decisions are open to review by 

 the general public. Indeed, it is very often the judge 

 who is on trial rather than the specimens in front of him. 

 If a .-ecret system is desirable (but that, of course, is the 

 whole point that I disallow), the system now generally 

 in use at our flower shows, and which is an adaptation of 

 one which 1 myself drew up several years ago, should 

 surely an>wer all re(|uirenients of reasonable men ; but 

 there has latterly been added to this machinery another 

 laborious detail, putting each individual card in an en- 

 velope and sealing it. On the outside of this envelope 

 are inscribed the class number and the contestant's num- 

 ber in that class. There are some modifications of this, 

 liut in substance this i< the method. 



.\s our societies are constituted today. I know, from ex- 

 perience and observation that it is quite a problem to get 

 the necessary clerical work done in the final rush of the 

 openiug hours. My good friend, Harry Runvard, handled 

 this detail at the last New York Flower Show more effi- 

 ciently than I have e\cr seen it done l>efore, with a whole 



army of .V. D. T. messengers and a battery of typewriters 

 operated by a goodly company of the unemployed sten- 

 ographers of New York City. But there were funds 

 available to meet the expenses. In most of our small 

 local shows there is neither the money available, nor even 

 the labor. Think, too, of the chances of error there are 

 in the mere clerical detail of copying and entering several 

 sets of figures several times, and after the judging see 

 what happens. We have all attended shows where the 

 exhibition cards have remained sealed for hours, and 

 sometimes days, after the awards have been made. Now. 

 I would like to know whether there is any real justifica- 

 tion for this attitude by which we seem to say all judges 

 are dishonest. I believe we are simply allowing ourselves 

 to be shackled by tradition, and I believe that if we would 

 only look at the question with an open mind w-e would at 

 once accept the principle of which I like to call "open- 

 faced judging." 



Our present custom, where it is not annoying and irri- 

 tating, becomes amusing: The judges, exhibitors and 

 others actively interested in the event travel together in 

 the same boat, in the same conveyance. With very few- 

 exceptions, the habitue of the exhibition halls could allot 

 the names to the exhibits after carefully looking through 

 them. There is an individuality or what not in each 

 grower's plants. Just so roses from different part of the 

 country carry the stamp of their source with them. 



Exhibitors will agree that judging is fairly done. 

 There ma\- be differences of opinion, but the integrity of 

 the judge is not questioned. The judge who exhibited 

 plain bias would soon find himself unasked to judge 

 again. Has not the time come when we should consider 

 the necessities of internal reform in our exhibitions, and 

 is not this a good starting point? What say you? 



Leox.\rd Barro.v, 



OCTOBER 



The Gardeners' Chronicle will issue its Conven- 

 tion Number i>{ the 



National Association 

 of Gardeners 



which will be held in conjunction with 



THE FALL SHOW 



OF THE 



Horticultural Society 



of NEW YORK 



at the American Museum of Natural Historj', 

 New York, October 31-November 4. 



MR. ADVERTISER: 



The Gardener plant in Fall, buy* in Winter, plants in 

 Spring. Now it the time to advertite. 



