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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



(OF AMERICA) 

 Devoted to the Science of Floriculture and Horticulture 



■ Vol. XXV 



AUGUST, 1921 



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Things and Thoughts of the Garden 



MONTAGUE FREE 



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IN conversation with the writer some time ago, H. E. 

 Downer, who in former times iUumined these pages 

 with his horticuhural wisdom, commented on the dif- 

 ficulty of initiating a discussion, that would be sustained, 

 in the correspondence columns of the horticultural press 

 of this country. He stated that on several occasions he 

 had tried to "start something" but that no one had risen 

 to the bait. 



Those who try to keep in touch with garden affairs in 

 Europe by reading the gardening papers realize that in 

 England at any rate it is not necessary to be deliberately 

 provocative in order to start a discussion on anything per- 

 taining to garden matters. The closing months of 1920 

 were brightened for our British friends by a lively dis- 

 cussion in The Garden of the proper method of spelling 

 the name of a well known white climbing rose. The 

 name, Eelicite-et-Perpetue, is French for the Latin names 

 of the sisters Felicitas et Perpetua, who were early Chris- 

 tians martyred at Carthage. The fun was started in Au- 

 gust by the reviewer of "Roses : Their History, Develop- 

 ment and Cultivation," Rev. Joseph H. Pemberton. taking 

 the author to task for spelling the name Felicite Perpetue 

 in the body of the book and Felicite-et-Perpetue in the 

 index. He stated that both were wrong and that the cor- 

 rect spelling was Felicite-et-Perpetue. In a week or two 

 a letter apjieared chiding, inferentially, both author and 

 reviewer, saying that the real name of the rose was 

 Felicite Perpetuelle, which in English would mean Per- 

 petual Felicity. -After this writer was disposed of, the 

 discussion ranged on whether the name should be used 

 with or without the conjunction. At this stage the inter- 

 change of amenities became rather amusing to the neutral 

 reader, but not so to some of the protagonists, for they 

 appeared to take the matter quite seriously and in some 

 cases became extremely acrimonious. This wordy con- 

 trovcrsv did not die out until November and only after 

 more than a score of letters had been iniblished. .\fter 

 going through this correspondence the average reader 

 would be apt to muse upon that phrase of Shakespeare's, 

 so often quoted that it has become hackneyed, "What's in 

 a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name 

 would smell as sweet" ; and think the subject of insufficient 

 importance to warrant the waste of so much time, temper, 

 ink and ])apfr. ft does illustrate, however, the readiness 

 of P>ritish gardening enthusiasts to engage in discussion 

 of matters pertaining to their hobby or profession. It 

 also indicates that it is advisable for horticultural writers 

 over there to be careful of the correctness of their facts 

 or opinions before they allow them to be published — un- 



less they are prepared to endure severe criticism. Per- 

 haps it would be a good thing if garden writers here were 

 exposed to the same salutary discipline. 



* * * 



In the Spring of the year an interesting correspondence, 

 inspired by an announcement concerning the judging of 

 vegetables, which appeared in the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's "Cook of Arrangements'' for 1921, ran for two 

 or three months in the same periodical. 



The kernel of the proposal as it appeared from a letter 

 in The Garden over the signatures of the President and 

 Secretary of the Society was : "The Royal Horticultural 

 Society has resolved to insist that at all its meetings vege- 

 tables shall be judged according to their fitness for table 

 use and not merely by their size and external appearance. 

 With this object in view it has been decided to ask the 

 assistance 'of eminent chefs as judges in making its 

 awards." 



This is a subject (that is, the standard by which veg- 

 etables shall be judged) of more than local importance 

 and concerns us as much as it does the British. \\'e take 

 it for granted that the chief oliject in holding exhibitions 

 of vegetables is not to provide exhibitors with an oppor- 

 tunity of glorying in their prowess or of receiving mon- 

 etary or other rewards, but for the purpose of maintain- 

 ing and improving the (juality of the product. If this is 

 the case it is essential to have a clear conception of what 

 we are driving at — a conception of what constitutes im- 

 provement in vegetables — and a code of rules that can be 

 used as a basis in judging. Discussion of the problem 

 may well serve to clarify our ideas on the subject. 



* * * 



We have had the thankless task of judging vegetables 

 "according to their fitness for table use" and realize a 

 few of the difficulties with which one may become in- 

 volved. Of course there is only one way to really judge 

 a vegetable's fitness, and that is the method of the ultimate 

 consumer. But it is admittedly out of the realm of prac- 

 tical politics to make use of this method, for, apart from 

 the difificulty of staging an exhibit of cooked vegetables, 

 where could we find judges, however strong th^r diges- 

 tive organs, who would lie capable of staying the whole 

 course at a big show? In this connection one of The 

 Garden's corres])ondents makes the assertion that there is 

 "little commonscnse value in vegetable shows. -It fact they 

 may be mischievous in perpetrating false standards owing 

 to the preposterously false standard of judgment by out- 

 ward appearances." 



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