:;,M 



HORTICULTURE 



November 1, 1919 



JUDGING FLOWER SHOWS 

 Philadelphia, Oct. 20, 1919. 



Dear Sir: — In your October 4th 

 issue, page 295, is a splendid article 

 from Canadian Florist, on "How Flow- 

 er Exhibitions are Judged." I per- 

 sonally wish that these rules and in- 

 structions might be distributed among 

 our many good amateurs, who are 

 eclipsing the efforts of our commercial 

 and private gardens. A few years ago, 

 it was common in the experience of 

 the writer, to see a well set up show, 

 with fine specimens, carelessly ar- 

 ranged and no attention in putting on 

 exhibition the required amount of 

 specimens to be judged. If six was 

 the number required, seven or eight 

 would be no objection. After they 

 found the reason for being disqualified 

 they soon obeyed the rules, and took 

 the medicine good naturedly. Now it 

 is with great pleasure that I can re- 

 port the Horticultural societies within 

 my knowledge, and where I have the 

 honor to officiate, to be as rigid and 

 obedient to the rules as the profes- 

 sional exhibitor. These societies are 

 now in the forefront with quality and 

 unique designs far exceeding even the 

 expert and the lady members of these 

 societies are as active as the men. 



Another important rule of these ex- 

 hibitions is the fact that the amateurs 

 and professionals are classified even 

 to the extent of the private estate ex- 

 hibiting plants, flowers, fruits and 

 vegetables grown by a gardener, 

 against the amateur exhibitor grow- 

 ing the exhibit themselves. It is a 

 pleasure to find the annual exhibitions 

 improving with time and skill. This 

 improvement is so pronounced that 

 the commercial exhibitor seldom 

 enters for contest or even exhibition. 



There is good reason, after consider- 

 ing the fact that in Dahlias especially, 

 one would not expect to be able to go 

 through a field of several acres and 

 cut specimens from stock grown for 

 roots lor market, such as he would 

 find in a private garden where per- 

 haps 25 to 50 plants of prize sorts are 

 grown by amateurs who care for each 

 individual plant by staking, feeding, 

 and disbudding, in order to produce a 

 few extra fine specimens. 



The Flower Show at Collings.wood, 

 N. J., October 3 and 4th, was pro- 

 nounced the best exhibition of Dahlias 

 shown in this country and they were 

 certainly the largest flowers and of 

 better quality than have often ever 

 greeted the eyes of the judges, who 

 were men who know Dahlias and had 



attended recent and previous shows 

 in the leading cities. This society has 

 been training for a number of years, 

 growing prize flowers, and holding 

 shows at Rose and Dahlia time. The 

 close adherence to rules governing ex- 

 hibitions, has given each member a 

 better knowledge of what a prize 

 flower should be; therefore, there was 

 perfect satisfaction at the judges de- 

 cision, in both flowers and vegetables. 

 A feature practiced by this Society is 

 the exhibition of canned fruits and 

 vegetables. This department is en- 

 tirely under control of the lady mem- 

 bers, who select their judges. This 

 branch of the exhibition has become 

 a strong feature, which has enhanced 

 the interest in that household neces- 

 sity very much. 



Another commendable feature at 

 all local exhibitions of flowers, is the 

 fact that a committee of ladies is us- 

 ually appointed to judge floral designs 

 and table decorations. Many new and 

 novel designs are introduced. These 

 the ladies are particularly capable of 

 judging. J. Otto Thilow. 



MINIATURE WILD GARDENS. 



In visiting the flower shows of 

 Japan one sees many pretty little toy 

 gardens in which the round bridges, 

 tiny ponds, temples and generally 

 their sacred mountain of Fujiyama 

 are represented. 



Last May when the schedule of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society 

 called for a display of wild flowers we 

 decided at Hillcrest to see what could 

 be done with a miniature wild garden 

 in New England. So I suggested to 

 Mr. Allen, our gardener, that he 

 should get a few rocks and seedling 

 pines and see what he could do. The 

 board on which this garden was plant- 

 ed was twenty-seven inches wide and 

 three feet deep. It showed a clump 

 of pink moccasin flowers or cypripe- 

 dium acaule, five or six varieties of 

 violets, the little pink catchfly or 

 Silene Pennsylvanica, and more than 

 twenty other wild flowers. The flow- 

 ers were all labelled on small strips 

 of gray paper which harmonized with 

 the rocks. 



This little garden attracted so much 

 interest in Horticultural Hall and later 

 in the Children's Museum in Jamaica 

 Plain, where it was sent when the 

 show was over and where its flowers 

 kept in bloom for several weeks, that 

 it was decided to do something of a 

 more extensive nature at the exhibi- 

 tion in Horticultural Hall next May. 



At first a garden of wild flowers in 

 the small hall was considered. But 

 it was decided that to make such a 

 garden would be too expensive besides 

 making a clutter of earth and rocks. 

 It was then decided to offer prizes for 

 small gardens planted on boards three 

 feet long by two and a half feet deep 

 to be made at home and brought to 

 the hall. All the flowering used 

 should be correctly labelled. It is be- 

 lieved that such gardens will call at- 

 tention to the beauty of our wild flora 

 of New England and add a gist to the 

 interest already taken in it. 



M. R. Case. 

 Hillcrest Farm, Weston, Mass. 

 October 26th, 1919. 



THE WESTCHESTER AND FAIR- 

 FIELD HORTICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



One of the greatest nights in the 

 history of this society was held in Hub- 

 bard's Hall, Greenwich, Conn., Friday 

 evening, October 10. The occasion 

 was the welcoming home of the boys 

 that fought and won. Pres. Graham in 

 a few very choice and touching words 

 introduced the warriors. After the 

 regular business of the society was 

 gone through President Graham called 

 on John Troy of New Rochelle to act 

 as toastmaster. Mr. Troy spoke on 

 the crisis that we have come through 

 and the present labor unrest, and in a 

 few very appropriate words presented 

 each of our soldier members with a 

 book entitled "What Great Britain Can 

 Teach Us About Gardening," which 

 was gracefully accepted by each of the 

 recipients. Fred Frems and Alex 

 Clarkson described their thrilling ex- 

 perience on the battlefields and 

 thanked the society for the cigars and 

 tobacco which they received a few 

 days before going into action, sand- 

 wiches and refreshments were served. 

 With Wesley Thomas at the piano 

 some very good violin solos were given 

 by Messrs. Wilson. Mitchell. Stuart 

 and Sutherland. Songs were sung by 

 Mitchell. Jones. Lee, Collins, and some 

 very good orations were given by Mr. 

 Goodband of Tarrytown. James Foster, 

 P. W. Popp, W. Connine and Bill Col- 

 lins of Boston. There was a very good 

 exhibition of flowers, fruit and vegeta- 

 bles. James Foster won first prize for 

 the collection of vegetables James 

 Stuart, James Linane and Robert Wil- 

 liamson received cultural certificates 

 for some very fine exhibits Mr. Troy 

 Jack Conrot, Cor. Secy. 



