HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS AND SCHEDULES!. £25 



As will be apparent when there are several classes in a show 

 in which pointing is necessary, the saving of time by the 

 triplet method is very material, and may in fact make all the 

 difference between having the work completed before the 

 entrance of the public or otherwise. The last-named method 

 is even quicker than it appears on paper, for experienced judges 

 find it as easy in most cases to regard the three blooms as o?ie, 

 and set down their aggregate value, as to appraise them sepa- 

 rately. When there is the suspicion of a doubt in the mind of 

 one of them they are valued individually. Though it is well 

 known that exhibitors examine, and very properly, the work of 

 judges closely, it is not so well known that judges watch 

 each other not less acutely. This is as it ought to be, and does 

 not apply to judging flowers alone, but everything on which they 

 have to adjudicate. 



Though in the above example the merit gradations are set 

 down in full or in half points, it is under the popular eight- 

 point standard system, originated by myself, just as easy to 

 divide still further, i.e. as easy to divide the halves into quarters 

 and set down, say, 7 J or 7f, if the judges cannot quite satisfy 

 themselves that a 1\ entry represents the exact value of what- 

 ever may be under examination. This is, as a rule, the quickest 

 way of settling doubts, and the verdicts of competent men could 

 not be very far wrong. As a matter of fact it is rare for them to 

 differ in the work of appraisement ; and though I have in my pos- 

 session at the least 20,000 entries, I do not remember a case in 

 which it was necessary to call in a referee when pointing had been 

 carefully done, and the judges were unanimous in their decisions. 



It may, however, perhaps be recorded here that in one 

 instance of judging ninety-six blooms of Chrysanthemums for an 

 important prize, two other sets of experts were, with the full 

 consent of the official judges, appointed to test the verdict. One 

 set arrived at one point above, the other one point below, the 

 total number which had been previously handed in, and Mr. 

 George Gordon was a happy man that day. 



In judging certain exhibits by comparison, which in their 

 nature are not amenable to having their several items valued 

 individually, and especially when the wording of the class is not 

 so clear as it might be, occasions may and do arise when two 

 judges find a difficulty in arriving at a decision. In such cases 



