Horticulture. 



526 



t<tuNBi 1912. 



, St. Brigid Anemone ' were put up. To 

 do so was perfectly admissible. Had the 

 wording been "six kinds," the exhibit 

 of course would have been disqualified. 



The use of the word " distinct " also 

 brings its difficulties. There was a class 

 for '"Bight Stove or Greenhouse Plants 

 distinct." One exhibitor has two Cal- 

 adiums amongst his eight, and another 

 two Coleus; in each case the plants 

 showed a distinct difference of colour. 

 The word " distinct " may in some 

 quarters have gained the specialized 

 meaning of " distinct kinds," but the 

 wording of such a class is, to say the 

 least, ambiguous. It is obviously open 

 to question whether " distinct kinds " or 

 distiuct varieties " is meant. The addition 

 of either of the two words would have 

 avoided all doubt and made the com- 

 petition fair, 



Before leaving the words " kind " and 

 " variety," may I point out that the 

 rule allowing a mixture of colour for 

 annuals no longer applies to Sweet 

 Peas. This flower having been so highly 

 specialized of recent years the Sweet 

 Pea Society has decided to require only 

 one variety in a bunch, unless it be 

 stated in the Schedule that the colours 

 may be mixed. 



6. The following three cases refer to 

 Foliage : 



(1) " Own foliage." A class required 

 flowers to be shown " with own foliage." 

 This means foliage cut from the same 

 plant or same variety of plant as that 

 which bore the bloom, the object being 

 to show the characteristics of the foliage 

 of the particular variety shown. For 

 example, if 'Glorie de Dijon ' Rose with 

 own foliage was asked for, all the foliage 

 must have been cut either from actually 

 the same plant or plants as the blooms 

 have come from or from other ' Gloire de 

 Dijon " Roses. If foliage of ' La France ' 

 or of ' Marie van Houtte ' or of any other 

 variety save ' Gloire de Dijon ' were used, 

 the exhibit would of course be disquali- 

 fied. Or if a particular Carnation or a 

 particular Sweet Pea " with own foliage " 

 were asked for, the only foliage used 



must have come from plants of the 

 particular variety of Carnation or Sweet 

 Pea named ; but it need not have come 

 from the identical plants from which the 

 blossoms shown were gathered — all that 

 is required being that the blossoms and 

 the foliage shall both be of the variety 

 asked for and of none other. (2) " Any 

 foliage " or " Added foliage " means that 

 foliage of plants other than that of the 

 flowers may be mixed with them. An 

 exhibitor in an " added foliage " class 

 staged Sweet Peas, and for foliage used 

 that of Everlasting Peas. He was 

 fully justified in doing so, for the 

 Schedule allowed any foliage and ex- 

 cluded none ; but he had the misfortune 

 to be fairly disqualified. (3) Gypsophila. 

 Gysophila is not foliage, but is a flower ; 

 and therefore a class requiring or per- 

 mitting any or added foliage is not 

 satisfied by using Gypsophila. A class 

 permitting it should say distinctly, 

 " Gysophila allowed with, or instead of, 

 other foliage." 



7. " Herbaceous." 



Shedule-makers cannot too closely ad- 

 here to Rules 180 and 197 concerning 

 herbaceous exhibits, and judges cannot 

 know them too accurately. For example, 

 I was once asked to say whether Mont- 

 bretia and Seedling Pinks are allowable 

 in the following class : " The best nine 

 bunches of Herbaceous Cut Flowers— 

 Not less than six specimens. No bulbous 

 allowed." 



First as to the Montbretia. Rule 184 

 describes herbaceous as "Plants with 

 flower-stems which die down to the 

 ground yearly, but having rootstocks 

 remaining alive through several winters. 

 For garden purposes ' rootstock ' in- 

 cludes all bulbs, corms, and tubers." 



Now, the rootstock of Montbretia is a 

 corm, and therefore is clearly eligible 

 for the class, the only specially excluded 

 plants being "bulbous." 



Seedlings pinks were on the other 

 hand, irregular. Rule 185 includes Pinks 

 among suffruticose plants, and they 

 certainly do not agree with the habit 

 of growth required by the word 



