128 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



are the judges, and what are their credentials ? And thirdly, who 

 are those who make the appointments, and what are their quali- 

 fications ? This last is a very important question, as we shall see. 



As I am not a rigid adherent to the principle that " he who 

 drives fat oxen must himself be fat," I will endeavour to touch 

 on each question on its merits. 



First, then, who are the objectors ? Some, though very few 

 indeed, who appear to acquiesce in the soundness of the above 

 curious dictum, may be actual and excellent cultivators, but the 

 majority are not. One of my friends frankly told me he thought 

 only growers of Chrysanthemums should act as judges. Now, 

 mark, this candid friend of mine never had any training in gar- 

 dening, and never unaided grew a Chrysanthemum, yet he had 

 a few plants under which he claimed as a " grower," and asked 

 me to mention him favourably as a judge when I could not 

 accept invitations in consequence of prior engagements. It is 

 clear, then, that one at least of the objectors to appointed judges 

 was not a judge and wanted to be one. He failed to get an ap- 

 pointment, but I think found relief " through the press," for 

 editors are compassionate beings when a racily written paragraph 

 comes in their way. 



Next, what are the credentials of those men who are the 

 most in demand for officiating in the chief classes of Chrysanthe- 

 mum shows in various parts of the country, and who are engaged 

 nearly a year in advance ? Some of them are still cultivators 

 and occasional exhibitors ; others have been engaged in growing 

 the plants for perhaps a quarter of a century, and have had oppor- 

 tunities of inspecting the best work of the best men in the 

 greatest possible number of shows in widely separated districts. 

 Or, in other words, long experience in the garden has been supple- 

 mented by that of the exhibition hall, and they ought to have 

 gained knowledge by the splendid object lessons provided there. 

 Yet some of these men are alluded to as non-growers, and 

 suggested on that account as not the most competent to 

 judge the work of others ; but all the same, if the principle 

 on which the objectors base their argument is sound, an 

 ex- collegian is not fit to be a lecturer on subjects for which 

 he has gained honours ; an old schoolmaster is not fit to be an 

 examiner of schools because he has passed through them ; or an 

 old cricketer is not fit to be an umpire. 



