JUDGING CHRYSANTHEMUMS '. MEN AND METHODS. 135 



difference of two, one set counting one more, and the other one 

 less than the responsible officials. That was perhaps the best 

 piece of work Mr. G. Gordon and myself ever engaged in, and 

 we do not expect to beat the record. The dispute was settled 

 to the satisfaction of all but the loser, and by no other method 

 could the accuracy of the verdict have been so clearly demon- 

 strated. 



It has been said that when the competition is so close that 

 there is only a shade, so to say, or point of difference, equal prizes 

 should be given, on the ground that one man gets so much more 

 money than the other with such a trifling margin of merit. 

 Judges have absolutely nothing to do with the " amount " of the 

 prize money. Their duty is to accord to the exhibitor who 

 " wins " the honour of the position, and the closer the contest 

 the greater the honour to him, also to the next in merit for run- 

 ning him so closely. Giving equal prizes is no doubt an easy 

 way out of a difficulty, but almost always unjust to one of the 

 exhibitors. I remember being with the late Mr. Charles Turner 

 judging Dahlias at a great provincial show. The contest was 

 close, and one of the adjudicators proposed to settle it in the 

 manner indicated. " No, no," replied the great florist, " the 

 boy there could give equals, but depend upon it there is a dif- 

 ference, and we must find it," and it was found. When a silver 

 cup is provided, it is either won or lost. There is no dividing.. 

 When a prize is offered for the champion bloom in a show it is 

 found. There cannot be a draw in such a case and the honour 

 divided between two blooms. If a mark of superiority can be 

 found in one bloom, surely it can be in a second and a third, and 

 so on. That ought to settle the matter. It may be a question 

 of trifles, but to disregard them is no trifle, for it is the aggrega- 

 tion of trifles that culminates in great results. 



When I commenced judging, the work was done by three 

 points. After sundry trials I found them insufficient, and proposed 

 four as an advance, then six, as small differences in merit could 

 be the better recorded. The six standard is now almost general, 

 but in extremely close contests it is scarcely satisfactory. Times 

 out of number I have known judges hesitate between giving six 

 points or five, but they would give five and a half readily. I 

 then made two columns for the figures, as in shillings and pence, 

 placing the five points as 5s. and the half point as Qd. This was 



