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HiDI PLANTS AND PLANT JUDGING. lil IP 
PLANTS AND PLANT JUDGING. 141 
oJ it is a defect, and in like proportion if a plant is ill-formed or has bad foliage, that also is a defect ; but 
if a plant is unhealthy, that is a decided disqualification, for as prizes are offered to reward skilful 
cultivation, if the exhibition shows the want of skill, that is a disqualifying point. A plant to be* 
perfect must be of symmetrical form, be short-jointed, and furnished with robust and healthy foliage 
from the base upwards. The form should not be formal, neither should the plants bear a rough and 
uncultivated appearance, but it must be graceful and easy in character, and while it bears the impress 
of art, must be sufficiently removed from formality to have some of the easy grace of nature about it. 
The bloom must be large and profusely produced, brilliant in colour, finely formed, and if scented rich 
in odour. At the time the plant is shown, sufficient bloom to present a uniform head should be 
expanded, and it should have a rich, crisp, and glossy appearance. Cleanliness is a great point ; 
consequently every leaf must be free from dirt of any kind, and not an insect must be seen. Plants thus 
appointed, whether they be hard or soft wooded, come from the tropics or be denizens of a milder 
climate, will always please; and it matters not whether they be large or small, they all alike show the 
skill of the gardener — so long as they are sufficiently large to show some mark of cultivation since they 
left the nurseryman's stores. 
As, however, example is generally better than precept, we reproduce from our first volume two 
examples of good management — one a Chorozema cordata grown in the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, aud 
the other a Fancy Pelargonium, as shown by Mir. Robinson of Pimlico. These may be regarded as 
perfect specimens of their kinds, are symmetrical in form without being formal, and graceful in outline 
without being encumbered with numerous sticks. It must, however, be remembered, that a plant may 
be large and finely formed, and yet not meritorious in point of management, for it may be a plant of 
very easy cultivation ; for instance, the Chorozema, though admirable in its way, would not bear 
comparison with a plant of C. triangularis, anguslifolia, or Heuchmanni, of the same or even smaller size, 
while a plant of Burtonia conferta or violacea, Boronia serrulata or pinnata, or Gompholobium 
splendons, not half the size, would be infinitely superior and more meritorious. Hence it is necessary 
that censors should be persons of experience, and practically acquainted with the management of the 
plants they undertake to adjudicate upon. 
Plants also should harmonize in point of size, so that when grouped together they may look as if 
they came from the same place, and not as if they had fallen together by chance. We once saw a 
collection of splendid Heaths, averaging from two to four feet in size, lose the first prize through the 
gardener putting in a small but admirable plant of Erica Sprengclii ; and only lust year we saw 
Cytisus racemosus, five feet high, and Iloyabella, about as many inches, shown in the same group. 
Such arrangements show bad taste, and ought to be publicly reprobated. It may, perhaps, so happen, 
that several collections of plants may be so nearly equal in point of merit as to render it difficult to say 
which is the best. In such a case it is the duty of the censors to examine the plants in each collection 
separately, both as to form and inflorescence, and then if they were equal, the difficulty of cultivation 
would decide the point, for if one collection contained plants of more difficult management, that of 
course must have the first prize. 
Size, more especially when it arises from age, is not a leading quality, except in plants of mi\ 
difficult management, and then the mere fact of keeping them alive and in cxhibitable condition is very 
meritorious, for of course plants which arc very difficult to grow in a young state must require equal 
skill to keep them healthy when full grown, but plants which have grown large, and have afterwards 
been twisted and twined about to make them shapely, should not be exhibited at all, for though we 
cannot join in the cuckoo song which has been raised about growing plants without stakes, knowing it 
to be impossible, yet it must never be forgotten that they are a necessary nuisance, and never can be 
used too sparingly, or too slight in character. In a few words, the leading principles to he observed in 
plant judging are, — First, that the plants be clean, healthy, and finely formed. Second, that thej be 
profusely covered with bloom, the individual Bowers being finely formed, large, and finely coloured. 
Third, that the plants be choice — novelty and tolerable size being always superior to age' and large 
size. Thus if ten plants were competing, one introduced ten years back and the other only two; and if 
each required the same skill in management, the new plant, if it had been well cultivated, would be the 
most meritorious, and should have the Hist prize. Thus far we have indicated our opinion of some of 
the rules which ought to he observed by plant censors, and those who judge individual flowers cannot 
do better than take "Glcnny's Properties" as their guide, for though some of bis roles may appeal- 
arbitrary, they arc in the main correct, and the best thai have' been published. — A. 
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