582 JOURNAL OP THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



In my opinion superiority in quality, cultural finish, and 

 attractive presentation, in all kinds of garden products what- 

 soever, should be more highly estimated than superiority in 

 size alone, accompanied by apparent defects. 



One of my own rules for judging is this. Specimens with 

 the fewer faults should win the higher prizes. It has been put 

 to a severe test on many occasions in determining the premier 

 bloom in a Chrysanthemum Show — one bloom out of many 

 hundreds. Discover a specimen with which no fault can be found 

 in size, form, fulness, substance, freshness, and clearness of 

 colouration, free from spot or blemish ; find another equal, or 

 rather larger, in size, but in which small faults are visible in 

 some other respects. Which is entitled to win — the faulty or the 

 faultless ? The last named wins, as it ought. Apply the 

 principle to other products, and you will not go very far wrong 

 in your decisions. 



Mr. Thomas directs attention to another judge-puzzling 

 class, namely, " such varieties of Grapes as Alicante, Gros 

 Colman, Gros Maroc, Gros Guillaume, and grapes of this 

 inferior class, pitted against varieties such as Black Hamburgh, 

 Madresfield Court, Mrs. Pince, Muscat Hamburgh, and others of 

 that character. As well," he says, "pit a race-horse against a 

 van-horse, or an Alderney against a shorthorn at a cattle show." 

 He thinks each of these two sections of Grapes should have a 

 class to itself, when they can be judged on their merits. Mr. 

 John Easter is of much the same opinion. As he wishes to bring 

 the Frontignans and other small rich-flavoured Grapes into more 

 extensive cultivation, he would stipulate for " well-grown and 

 well-finished bunches, to be judged by flavour." * 



Many prizes have been offered for the best flavoured Grapes, 

 and a large proportion of them have gone to some of the most 

 dingy, miserable-looking specimens imaginable, which dis- 

 played no skill in cultivation. They were akin to numerous 

 scrubby little Melons which happen to possess flavour, but are 

 no credit to the cultivators all the same. The R.H.S. very 

 properly insists on some evidence of culture by stipulating that 



* Mr. David Thomson suggests that " collections " of Grapes should 

 consist of varieties to be specified in schedules, or in other words that each 

 competitor must stage the same varieties in his collection, instead of 

 diverse varieties being pitted against each other in the orthodox way. 



