200 



GAR DENERS MA GAZI NE. 



March 



26 



tinted white, very chaste and beautiful ; Dora Craven, white, with carmine 



blotch on the s^ment. : Ella, Mac, jfcaded rose , ™*c«^» blotch on 



blotch on the segments : Ella, L.Lac, snaaea rose, wun cr.n.au,. The ancient an d interesting town of Reading numbers amon„ u • L 



the segments ; Elvira, white, suffused rose and flaked with red ; Fmme ta ew men remarkable ali ke for their business ability and 5HL£ **» 



rich salmon rose, very distinct and beautiful ; Gertrude wh.te suffused {hey have risen from com p aratIve oWi tQ °g*»Mnd the fact £ 



with rose and marked with a few crimson stripes ; Grand Mogul, cerise, ession M well ^ capable and generous townsmen. One SmT,° f their J** 



h^.vilv nninted with mulberry and tinted with slate colour at the margin ; ^ to us as horticulturists, and we f ee l sur e that our ™h J, 3 e es l*cttU. 



heavily painted with mulberry and tinted with slate colour at the margin , 

 I [ ilda, ivory white flaked with rose at the margin ; Martial, rich crimson, 

 iHked with scarlet and dark crimson, effective ; and Rosalie, delicate throughout the wor d, or 



salmon pink. 



dimensions 



Proportioning Prizes to Points. 



Should it happen that any readers of the Gardeners' Magazine have been 



interested in the note by A. D. on the new departure at Shrewsbury in 

 jroportioning the prizes to the points gained in two large classes, there may be 

 urther interest in the knowledge that the system is already in force on a very 

 extensive scale in the county of Kent. Acting on a suggestion by the Lord 

 Lieutenant (Earl Stanhope), the Technical Education Committee of the Kent 

 County Council established a series of garden, allotment, and show competitions 

 three years ago, giving a set of prizes, value 50s., to each village where lectures on 

 practical horticulture were delivered. The money was divided into four prizes of 

 the respective values of £l, 15s., 10s., and 5s., which for cottagers are, it will be 

 agreed, not illiberal. Certainly they are above the average. Upwards of fifty 

 village competitions resulted. In the course of my judicial work, I was struck by 

 the number of instances in which a few points separated all the prize-winners. In 

 som* cases only four or five marks represented the difference between the first and 

 fourth gardens, yet the difference in the prizes was 15s. Another fact that arrested 

 my attention was that in some villages, where the cultural level was low, a com- 

 petitor secured £1 with less marks than were earned by a second competitor in 

 another village, yet who, owing to the higher level of the work there, only 

 secured a fourth prize. Both these things seemed to me to call for rectification, 

 and after due reflection I submitted to the committee a scheme for establishing an 

 entirely new basis of awards. This was to give prizes at the rate of one penny per 

 point, and do away with fixed prizes altogether. The scheme has worked well. 

 To give an example I open my judging book at random and take the following 

 instance : (1) A, 173 points, priz2 14s. Sd. ; (2) B, 168 points, 14s. ; (3) C, 163 

 points, 13s. 7d. ; (4) D, 152 points, 12s. 8d. ; total, £2 14s. 8d. It will thus be 

 seen that the prizes are in exact proportion to the merits of the gardens, as they 

 could not be on a fixed basis. 



On this system it is advisable not to fix the number of prizes. We do not do 

 so in Kent. We have a minimum standard, and if it is not reached no prize is 

 awarded, even if the rule means excluding every competitor, but things have never 

 teen so bad as that. On the other hand, we have a maximum standard, every 

 competitor attaining which gets a prize to the full value of his points. This insures 

 that good centres get more money than weak ones, as they deserve to do. 

 Allowance is made for any striking disadvantage of soil. We have centres getting 

 five, six, and even seven prizes, and earning from fifty to seventy-five per cent, 

 more than they did on the old system. The extra money comes in the main from 

 the weak centres, as the total cost to the committee is about the same as it was 

 before. But (and this is instructive) there are cases where a low-point centre 

 under the fixed prize system has become a high-point centre under the propor- 

 tionate system, the competitors having perceived the necessity of pulling themselves 

 together. 



The more this system is studied the more plainly its justice and workability 

 become manifest. Many authorities have expressed their approval of it. Mr, 

 George Gordon was one of the first, if I remember aright, to instantaneously per- 

 ceive its advantages, and Mr. John Wright, with his great judicial experience, 

 approves its simplicity and efficacy. It may be asked how the system is applied to 

 collections of produce. It is as follows : A standard is fixed for each vegetable, of 

 which we usually ask for nine kinds. The average marks are, say, eight ; thus it 

 is possible for a competitor to get seventy-two altogether. This is a much smaller 

 numittr than can be earned with a plot, so we raise the "scale of pay" to 2d. per 

 point— result, a first prize of 12s. No. 2 may have 66 marks, prize us. ; No. 3, 

 60 marks, prize 10s. ; No. 4, 54 marks, prize 9s. ; and No. 5, 50 marks, prize 

 8s. 4d. ; total, £2 10s. 4d. If others reached a standard of two-thirds the maxi- 

 mum, $\e. f 48 marks, more prizes would be given. A rich society giving about 

 £2$ toone important class could follow the same system, but calculating the prizes 

 at is. or 2s. per point instead of a penny or twopence. To my mind the fixed 

 number of prizes is the weak point in the Shrewsbury arrangement. The number 

 of prizes, like the value, ought to be decided by one thing— merit alone. 



Although I have had many inquiries about the Kent system, I have not hitherto 

 drawn prominent attention to it in any of the leading organs of horticultural 

 opinion. I do so now partly because the subject is exciting attention, partly 

 because honour for the innovation belongs, not to Shrewsbury, but to the Kent 

 Technical Education Committee— a body which is unceasing in its endeavours to 

 give practical help to all classes of horticulturists. 



W. P. Wright, Horticultural Superintendent \ 



Kent C. C. Technical Education Committee. 



Rose Show Fixtu 



FOR 1898. 



99 

 I I 

 99 

 99 



99 

 99 



June 15 (Wednesday).— York.* **** 

 16 (Thursday).— Colchester. 

 23 (Thursday).— Bath (N.R.S.). 

 25 (Saturday).— Windsor. 



It jT« e f d ay)-— Southampton,* Sutton, and Westminster (R. U.S. ). 



1 tV' , sd > y)> 7 Canterb >"y, Croydon, and Richmond, Surrey. 

 t.,i 3 ° ( P" rsd *y -- E, tham, Gloucester, and Norwich. 

 July 2 (Saturday). -Crystal Palace (N. R.S. ). 



5 Tuesday).— Harrow, Redhill 



6 Wednesday) -Farningham, Hanley, Reigate. 

 8 (Friday).— Ulverston. 



12 £uesday).-Wolverharnpton.« 



13 jy*™^).— Newcastle-on-Tyne.* 



4 Hdffi^" 1 ^ (N - R - S ->' Canterhur y hospital Fund), and 

 m 26 (Tuesday),— Tibshelf. 



• mriS * Edward Mawley. 



99 



19 



99 



it 

 99 



« , ^ wc ICC1 sure rea( J . r y .^HCCUfly 



firm of Messrs. Fidler and Son. kS\£ " mter «W 

 , at least, wherever potatos of high SSlT k 5l 



as now reached such co2 T ^ 

 present proprietor some SJ** 



■ 



Mr. J. C. Fidler. 



ago. The great up-building of the concern was left, however, for Mr. J. C. 

 Fidler, who now controls it, and it is a monument to his industry and ability. 

 Enterprise, combined with clear foresight, has characterised all his undertakings, 

 and his aim as a business man has always been to sell the best possible article, and 

 to sell it as cheaply as possible. Mr, J. C. Fidler is sole proprietor of the 

 business, but is assisted in its conduct by his two sons. Some idea of the extent 

 of the seed and potato trade carried on in the new premises the firm occupies it 

 Friar Street, will be gathered from the fact that not less than a hundred persooi 

 are herein employed. The block of buildings comprising warehouses, order-room, 

 offices, and shop, have been built by Mr. Fidler to suit the requirements of the 

 business, and they are lighted throughout by electricity. At present the output rf 

 garden seeds is slackening, but the almost empty bins and shelves show that there 

 has been a remarkable run on the leading kinds of vegetable seeds supplied by the 

 firm. One shelf was pointed out to us where at the beginning of the season ovt 

 five tons of a certain culinary pea were packed in pint and quart packets ; this is 

 now almost empty. Very many of the bins in the big order-room have to be filled 

 over and over again from the warehouses above to meet the demand that has beei 

 exceptionally heavy this year. Farm seeds are largely supplied by Messrs. Fidler 

 and Sons, and the huge stocks of mangold, turnip, swede, cabbage, clovers, bttM, 

 &c, so largely used in farming, represent a very large sum of money ; orders fcr 

 these are now coming in apace, and the building seems pervaded with a seme & 

 unostentatious prosperity. 



Potatos* 



If there is one branch of the business of seedsmen in which the Messrs. Fid*' 

 excel, it is in the production and introduction of potatos. To raise seedtof 

 potatos does not require much space, but to properly test them when raised » 



the rnlrivation of a aip 



dred acres ■ 

 Reading, *J 



hpv are dlStfl- 



stands ^ as much about potatos as any man living 

 recording. In the production of a new potato th 

 viz., strong parentage, fine quality, and high crop] 

 is one that is kidney-shaped, a heavy cropper, sti 

 tubers that are handsome in appearance, floury whe: 



so that his views are 



wori 

 edit, 



waxy 



or "chips" and stews. 



constitution and high cropping powers to its progeny is Champion, ton* 

 this variety, either as parent or grand-parent, has exercised consideram ^ 



any, ~ 



oely flavo** 

 eg, though * 



y known 

 derable 



*t\ cnxt 



nseqatf 



regard 



and he should know 



ine output ot trie hrm, for potatos, from trie Degmnin^ 

 including both eating and seed tubers, averages over three hundred 



Lb. a. I ■ M _ A M V ~ * * • » ■ m \ W ^ 



eml* r 



tbe t ?S 



vr to *r 



***** o.gc a varieiy loses vigour, no matter no* wen — 

 is changed. Unfortunately for the great body of potato grow 



ers 



