IRISH GARDENING. 



Hints to Exhibitors. 

 I. — Showing and Shows. 



By E. KNOWI.niN, Secielary, Royal llorluniltuial 

 Society cf Ireland. 



COMPETITION is the life of trade, we are 

 told, and a little further calculation along- 

 the same lines deduces that the exhibi- 

 tion table is a powerlul stimulus to our best 

 eflForts in gardening. The flower show, as a 

 vantage point for a study of human nature, 

 should not, perhaps, come in here, but it's hard 

 to keep it out, so we cry credit, at least, for an 

 endeavour to do so. Of course, the man who 

 does not show starts his critical survey with 

 supreme contempt for a good deal of an 

 an exhibitor's foibles, yet, somehow, he does 

 not get ver)' far ere he displays a "strong 

 weakness " for dropping hints anent the perfec- 

 tion of his own produce compared with some 

 on view. Our critic, nevertheless, is not a 

 n/ru avis at the shows, even to the extent of 

 being gregarious, for we have found a little 

 flock of the same species foregather to worry 

 the winners with " I've got better at home " or 

 encourage the losers with "I told you so." 

 One such, who was freely using his privilege 

 of growling at pretty well everything he saw 

 (not very many years ago), we managed to 

 circumnavigate " forninst " the first prize 

 mignonette, asking him quietly what he thought 

 oi' //ill/ ? He looked over it, and he looked round 

 it, and then looked at it, and at last came the 

 reply " he fed it." That, if evasive, was in- 

 controvertable. Still, in it lays one of the nice 

 points of growing for exhibition, and old 

 " mum " growers particularly too well know to 

 what a nicety this nourishment had to be 

 administered to build up the fat-headed blooms 

 without an abrupt stopping of the blowing 

 similar to the collapses which were apt to occur 

 in the great Dr. Blimber's forcing academy. 

 Then, in the timing of exhibits to be at their 

 best at a given date is a fine exercise for the 

 faculties. " I'll never have them out by the 

 time " said a veteran exhibitor three weeks before 

 the last show, " what do you think ? " As far 

 as appearances went we thought not, but knew 

 he would, and told him so, and he did. 



Growing, however, is a little behind the 

 scenes of the show proper. The produce which 

 is borne in triumph to the halls of judgment 



still leaves openings for the trained eye and deft 

 hand in staging ; and here what a difference 

 there is in exhibitors. Some are all fume and 

 flurry and fuss, others calm, collected and 

 deliberate. The first is- engaged in watching 

 everybody else's "stuff" but his own, tumbling 

 over his own feet, and favouring his assistants 

 with a few florid adjectives, sot/ovoce; yet it is but 

 right to add that a good deal more of this is 

 noticeable in shows across Channel than on this 

 side, and that also must be stated is personal 

 experience of where classes were large, prizes 

 big, and " sich langwidge " presumably in pro- 

 portionate ratio. And it is but right to further 

 add that much of this pertained to the huge 

 stove and greenhouse specimens which are now 

 as defunct as the dodo. In this flashlight from 

 the past comes the indisputable fact that with 

 the passing of the big specimen plant came a 

 new era in exhibiting, and to-dav we are 

 nothing if not practical, and taking any show 

 at a given season, to-day, we cannot but think 

 that it runs on distinctly practical lines, 

 commands the most useful and varied of in- 

 terests, and provides openings for all sorts and 

 conditions of cultivators. 



If our much flurried and worried exhibitor is 

 the last out when the judging commences, it is 

 not his fault if he is not the first in as soon as 

 the verdicts are given. " Call yourself a judge ? 

 VVli V my old grandmother could judge better than 

 that " was the compliment paid by an exhibitor 

 to his neighbour, who, unfortunately, had acted 

 in the judicial capacity. Unfortunately, we 

 say, for that a man has no honour as a prophet 

 in his own country was never more applicable 

 than here, or now. And this, too, we venture 

 to say, apart from capacity and moral rectitude ; 

 as a matter of fact we have never heard the 

 latter impugned. That an expert is necessary 

 in the more important sections of florists' 

 flowers, such as roses, carnations, sweet peas, 

 and dahlias, goes without saying, and anyone 

 heedlessly undertaking such without due 

 qualification is very near the wrath to come. 

 But, annually, it becomes harder to get these 

 experts, and even then it should not be forgotten 

 that no man is infallible, and it seems a pity 

 that anyone should be thus defied. We hav'e 

 known instances in which it was felt that a 

 mistake had been made, and the committee were 

 able to courteously point out to their expert 

 details which had been overlooked by him, and 



