100 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



scored in their favour, according to a fixed scale of numbers — which 

 I have been requested in the present paper to sketch out for the 

 information of the uninitiated in the mysteries of floriculture, so 

 that they may gain at least some faint idea of the grounds upon 

 which especial honours are assigned to particular subjects. They 

 can perhaps hardly be applied in practice, since the practical man — 

 that is, the official judge — necessarily adopts a more rapid esti- 

 mate of merit ; but they are, in the main, the principles on which 

 his more rapid judgment is based. 



The object of the grower is to secure in the new plant or flower 

 which is accepted as meritorious, the greatest amount of good 

 qualities, represented by its beauty and utility as an object of 

 ornament ; and this mode of judging by the aid of numerical points 

 must show exactly how far such qualities are or are not possessed. 

 The subject can, indeed, be sketched out here only in a very gene- 

 ral way, and in general terms, being far too comprehensive to be 

 dealt with in detail within the limits of a brief paper like the 

 present. 



Assuming, then, the desirableness of regulating awards upon the 

 principle now indicated, it is proposed to regard the highest state 

 of excellence in a flower or plant, that is to say, ideal perfec- 

 tion, as being represented by 100 marks. This somewhat high 

 number is taken because, as it admits more readily of subdivision 

 than a smaller one, a more exact result is obtained by its use. 



What, then, are the particular features most to be desired in an 

 ornamental plant? This is the first question that arises, and 

 being answered, it gives rise to another : What is the particular 

 value in parts of 100 that should be assigned to the several fea- 

 tures of merit met with in the subjects under judgment ? These 

 two questions have to be regarded in their application to the three 

 classes of — 



I. Flowering Plants. 

 II. Foliage Plants. 

 III. Florists' Flowers. 



It should here be observed, by way of parenthesis, that Stove 

 plants, Greenhouse plants, and Hardy plants, require to be judged 

 independently of each other. Stove plants must be viewed as 

 stove plants, and greenhouse and hardy plants as such. At first 

 sight it might appear as though hardy plants stood at an advan- 

 tage, inasmuch as it might be said (and said very truly), that they 

 arc suited to the means of a larger number of persons than hot- 



