624 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



far as can be done, of the individual items in a collection, men 

 who have not had much experience in the process, especially 

 if they are of sanguine temperament, are extremely prone to 

 commence pointing too " high." " Here is a glorious bloom ! " 

 they say, or "Here is a grand dish!" and down goes the 

 maximum. By-and-by they come to distinctly better specimens. 

 What then ? Well, they look rather foolish, and the conceit is 

 taken out of them. Old judges make no such mistakes. Why ? 

 Because the conceit has been taken out of them before. 



Only the very best specimen in any class, if such can be found 

 distinctly superior to all others, should be accorded maximum 

 points. If there happen to be a few of equally commanding 

 merit they would, of course, be equally honoured, but such 

 occurrences are rare. The frequency with which equal prizes 

 are given at some shows represents easy, not to say slipshod, 

 judging, for which experts were scarcely needed. 



There are two methods of " pointing," or rather of entering 

 the points or marks of merit, as shown below, one slow, the 

 other quick, but both equally accurate. The last and the best 

 was, so far as I know, initiated by Mr. James Douglas. The 

 asterisks indicate blooms, the figures beneath them their value. 



Sample of Revised Edition of H. V. Machines Judging Card for Roses, &c. 



No. Class 



Examples 



1817 



6 



5 

 *<■ 



4.1 4.1 



4 H 



15*15 14*15 1714| 17 



m 6 



a! 5 



4i 



16.15£ 14 i 



Back row blooms & 

 points of merit . 



Middle row blooms 

 & points of merit 



Front row blooms 

 & points of merit 



Total in 3 rows . 



Row Grand 

 Total Total 



103 



86^ 

 71. 1 



201 

 201 



By the first, or " slow," method the blooms are pointed from 

 left to right, the value of each set down, involving, of course, 48 

 entries, or in three collections, 144 entries. 



By the second, or " quick," method they are pointed from back 

 to front in triplets. Take the first three on the left, thus : Back 

 row bloom, 7; middle, 6; front, 5 ; added mentally=18; and 

 so on. This results in a saving of 32 entries on each stand, ancl 

 in the three collections saves 96 entries. 



