Horticulture, 



524 



[June, 1912. 



All the exhibitors showing in boxes 

 ought in all fairness, to have been dis- 

 qualified. 



3. My next example deals with the 

 difference of "or" from "and," 



These two small words are the inno- 

 cent cause of repeated difficulty. A 

 class reads, "Six vases of cut flowers- 

 indoor and outdoor," In this class an 

 exhibitor staged outdoor flowers only, 

 and being disqualified, argued that 

 " and " implied a choice of either. He 

 was wrong. The word "or" would of 

 course, have allowed the alternative, 

 but the use of the word "and" de- 

 manded the inclusion of some at least 

 of both in the exhibit. And further, if 

 either one or both were intended, both 

 "and" and "or" should be used with a 

 stroke between them, thus, " and — or." 



4. Misdirection by Committees. 



Letters of complaint frequently reach 

 me under some such circumstances as 

 this : A is not an amateur according 

 to the rules of a certain local society. 

 But he makes representations to the 

 Secretary, or to the Committee, which 

 lead them to sanction his showing as 

 amateur. This is, of course, all unknown 

 beforehand to the other exhibitors. He 

 wins the first prize, and B — my corres- 

 pondent—and C and D who are all three 

 undoubtedly amateurs under the mles 

 of the society concerned, do not, Can 

 you wonder they protest? 



What reasons the Committee had for 

 deciding as they did, and permitting 

 A to show as an amateur, they them- 

 selves know ; but it illustrates the folly 

 and injustice of making rules and not 

 abiding by them rigidly. A may be said, 

 not unnaturally, to want to get some 

 advantage from which the wording of 

 the Schedule, strictly interpreted, ex- 

 cludes him, possibly somewhat unfairly. 

 The Committee recognize this, and 

 instead of altering the rule which bears 

 unfairly on him, make an exception in 

 his favour and allow him to enter the 

 desired class. B, C, and D lose and feel 

 that a great injustice has been done 

 $h.em, and jealousies and heart-burnings 



are aroused which it may take years 

 to allay. And so, because the Committee 

 has not rigidly held to its Schedule, 

 it finds itself in this unfortunate di- 

 lemma. It has violated its own Schedule, 

 has set up what appears to the others 

 to be an unfair competition, and has 

 caused a miscarriage of justice tor 

 which there is no remedy. The Com- 

 mittee of a Show is all-powerful, and 

 if it told A he might show as an 

 amateur, A is in no way to blame for 

 doing so, and all protests by B are use- 

 less. But it can never be either politic 

 or right for a committee to depart from 

 its own rules. They must always be 

 literally and strictly interpreted accor- 

 ding to the genius of the English langu- 

 age. If the rule is wrong, revise it by 

 all means on the first possible occasion ; 

 call a special meeting of the Society if 

 needs be ; but a rule, so long as it exists, 

 should be adhered to. The R. H. S. Code 

 of Rules for judging says, "The Rules 

 and Regulations under which the show 

 is held cannot too clearly be stated " 

 (Sec. 25). Even "Alterations in the 

 arrangements should be avoided, except 

 in cases of actual necessity, and then 

 every possible means of publicity should 

 be resorted to for making them gener- 

 ally known (Sec. 26). 



Whilst considering disputes between 

 committees and exhibitors I feel bound 

 to notice another most unfortunate and 

 frequent source of trouble. An Exhi- 

 bitor has worked with diligence and care 

 to produce prize stuff, and has attained 

 a leading position, say, as a grower of 

 vegetables, in the district. Year after 

 year he carries off all the first prizes in 

 the vegetable classes. Perhaps jealousy 

 and certainly disappointment, takes 

 hold of his fellow-competitois, and they 

 leave off, or threaten to leave off, show- 

 ing against him. Pear for the future 

 success of the Show and the Society at 

 once springs up in the minds of the Com- 

 mittee. They find— or if they cannot 

 find, possibly they manufacture— a 

 reason for disqualifying or excluding the 

 too successful exhibitor ; and they think 

 to have saved the Show, but by a some- 

 what unjust, or at least a questionable 



