234 THE BOOK OF THE ROSE CHAP. 
the corresponding Rose in the other stand and 
adding or subtracting points accordingly is a 
method I have used when judging alone in a 
“near thing”; looking at the Roses from the 
level of the trays so as to get a comparison of the 
depth of the blooms may sometimes be of service 
in the task of arriving at a decision: and if the 
verdict should still be doubtful, arrangement, 
neatness, foliage, and even moss may help to 
turn the scale. In such extreme cases, however, 
it is better to judge them as equal where the 
prizes are money and can be divided; if a cup 
be in question, of course one must be declared the 
winner. 
I went once some little distance to a show solely 
as judge, there being no class suited to me. The 
prize was a cup for forty-eight, and there was no 
second or other prize whatever. I was the only 
judge, and the exhibitors were two noted rival 
nurserymen of the very first calibre. I was shut 
up quite alone in the tent, and proceeded to my 
task with cheerfulness, not knowing what was in 
store for me. I ‘ pointed” each bloom with great 
pains, and took care not to add up the total of the 
first stand till I had done the other, lest I should 
be insensibly influenced. To my horror they came 
out exactly equal. I went through them again 
from the other end, and this time I did get about 
one and a half points’ difference, but still felt that 
the second judgment was not quite so trustworthy, 
as I might be unconsciously anxious to find a 
difference. I compared them in every way I knew, 
but still could make hardly more than a_ point 
between them, if so much. No difference was to 
