THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



68 



judgment, and the most desii-able varie- 

 ties for the various soils and climates 

 in this Province. They should be able 

 to make their awards in writing, setting 

 forth the points of superiority in the 

 collections or plates )-eceiving awards, 

 and in every case give the number of 

 points awarded to each variety. They 

 should also be possessed of solid back 

 bone, and so strong a sense of justice 

 that thei'e would be no inclination to 

 favoritism. 



Unless a judge has an extensive 

 knowledge of his subject, he is apt to 

 judge the specimens before him by the 

 result of his experience upon his own 

 grounds, which may not be extensive, 

 or fair, even as a general test for his 

 own neighborhood. He might awai'd 

 tirst prize to four vaiieties of Pears, 

 consisting of Tyson, Osband's Summer, 

 Stevens Genessee and Duchess, simply 

 because he knows thes', and they have 

 suited his taste very well, whereas 

 another four in competition consists of 

 Bartlett, Flemish Beauty, Ducliess and 

 Josephine de Malines, which should 

 generally have had first place on a scale 

 of points of excellence and value in 

 market. 



In judging at a Township exhibition 

 it is necessary to consider awards in 

 accoixlance with the capabilities of soil 

 and climate within that territory. But 

 at a Provincial exhibition a large 

 variety of soils, and especially climatic 

 capabilities, should be considered, if 

 complete justice is to be meted out to 

 all exhibitors. 



A committee of three judges will do 

 more work in a day than five judges, 

 and, as a rule, their work will be better 

 done. Many advocate the appointing 

 of one judge only on each section, and 

 doubtless it has advantages, and chiefly 

 that where one has the entire I'esponsi- 

 bility cast upon his own shoulders, he 

 will not accept the position, in the first 

 place, unless he feels satisfied he can 



do the work properly, and then he will 

 exercise every possible care in examin- 

 ing specimens before placing awards. 



Then, again, judges should be paid 

 properly for their services, and then 

 they would take more time and exercise 

 more care in making awards. 



If properly j)aid. Associations could 

 reasonably require judges to make all 

 awards in writing, giving the scale of 

 points of merit in every case, and also 

 giving reasons for casting out any varie- 

 ties they may think proper so to do. 

 In awarding upon collections a great 

 variety of points occur besides passing 

 upon the condition of specimens making 

 up such collections. For instance, 

 every general collection should contain 

 such varieties as will cover the longest 

 possible season both for cooking and 

 eating, besides being those the grower 

 considers of the highest market value. 

 Where collections receive no award, 

 the reasons should be noted in the book 

 of awards, and if any collection is con- 

 sidered of almost equal merit with 

 another that has received an award, 

 the point or points in which it is lack- 

 ing should be specially noted. 



In judging collections the first point, 

 after seeing that the proper number of 

 varieties are entered and correctly 

 named, is to compare the specimens in 

 each collection, after which points 

 should be taken, adopting five or ten 

 as a maximum. Then, again, while 

 one collection may scale a larger num- 

 ber of points than some others, so far 

 as perfection of specimens is concerned, 

 yet it may lack varieties which are of 

 a much higher market value than any 

 in it, and hence it is important that 

 home and foreign market value be 

 taken into account. In fact every 

 point connected with growth, produc- 

 tiveness, genei-al value, cjuality and 

 hardiness, should be considered in 

 coming to a decision. In the past too 

 much weight has been given to the 



