December 18, 1890. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
530 
deep centre, very dwarf ; M. Bruant, scarlet semi-double, a very 
fine winter variety ; and Girome, very deep purple pink. 
I am vain enough to think the above is the best selection of 
Zonal Pelargoniums that has been published in the Journal, and 
if I had all the varieties flowering in my greenhouse as they flower 
at Swanley I might be compelled to express my admiration as Mr. 
Cannell did his, when he gave them a parting glance as if loth to 
leave them. “ Ah ! beautiful, indeed ; beautiful, beautiful, beauti¬ 
ful ! ” —Flora. 
I BEG to enclose copy of a card which I have prepared, and would 
suggest that it be used in judging Hoses and Chrysanthemums, &c., in 
close contests and keen competitions for valuable prizes. The judging 
is sometimes very unsatisfactory that something of this kind is much 
needed. The plan will probably be open for discussion. I hope you 
may bring it before your readers, so that exhibitors can give their 
opinion regarding it. 
The advantages of the card are 1, Exhibitors would at once see 
their exact position, and find out their weak and istrong points, which 
would often save a deal of trouble and bad feeling amongst exhibitors 
and judges. 2, Young exhibitors would see what to aim at in selecting 
flowers for exhibition, and it would also teach them how to judge 
correctly. 3, A better idea of the show would be conveyed in the news¬ 
paper reports to those who cannot attend by having the number of 
points given to each exhibit. One season’s show could be correctly 
compared with the other, and see exactly what progress was being made 
by referring to number of points given.—W m. R. Cocker. 
[The card for thirty-six blooms is designed as follows There are 
three rows of squares of twelve each, with three end squares for the 
total of each row. There is another square for the extra points given 
for arrangement and superior staging, with a fourth for the grand 
total. Then there is a space for the judge’s signature under the state¬ 
ment, “ We hereby declare having judged those Roses carefully and to 
the best of our ability ; ” and a space for the secretary’s signature 
completes the card, which measures 91 inches long by 64 inches wide. 
At the National Rose Society’s meeting recently the subject was intro¬ 
duced, and one member said he would like to know whac would be the 
size of a card for seventy-two Roses.] 
Local Rose Exhibitions. 
The readers of the Journal must be very tired of this correspondence, 
and for my part this will be my last letter on the subject. “ An Exhi¬ 
bitor” refers me to two passages in his and “J. B.’s” former letters. 
With regard to his own reference, I have examined the N.R.S. B'r- 
mingham schedule, the names of the prizewinners as recorded in the 
Journal, and my own recollection, and do not understand to what he 
alludes. “J. B.’s” contention was, I think, fully answered. The 
Gloucester schedule shows perhaps rather more of a leaning to free 
trade in Division C than that of most other provincial shows ; I have 
no doubt the Committee of that Society are we 1 able to defend it. 1 
did not, I think, suggest that the N.R.S. schedule “ could not be im¬ 
proved ; ” but “ An Exhibitor ” gives an instance—“ Will I tell him 
whether there are any restrictions that would prevent Mr. Lindsell or 
Mr. Pemberton from showing in any of the classes of the E division if 
they thought well l ” I should rather think there are. 1 do not say it 
is rendered impossible for them, any more than it is impossible for the 
heir to a peerage and large estates to renounce them and set up in 
business as a chimney sweep ; but there certainly are restrictions to 
dissuade him, and it has not been found necessary hitherto to pass a 
law to prevent it, for the sake of the sweeps. 
As to the quotation from the “ Rosarian’s Year B ok,” “ An 
Exhibitor ” says I “ omitted to mention ” a passage. On the contrary 
I begged those who are interested in this correspondence to “ read the 
whole.” I wish I could get him to understand. Undoubtedly the late 
Mr. Frere’s object in the passage in question was *• to encourage the 
small growers ; ” but to do this, by trying to get them to raise their 
own standard, not by holding out any hopes of the standard being 
lowered for their benefit. The “neighbour” mentioned in the little 
anecdote in question is, in my opinion, one of the best judges and 
exhibitors in England, though his soil is so very bad that he never 
could do much with H.P.’s. He was encouraged by Mr. Frere, and 
by the accident of winning an extra prize for a single exceptional 
Marie Rady, exactly in the way in which I am now trying to encourage 
“An Exhibitor” to show more pluck and independence. Surely it is 
not supposed that he had extra classes arranged for him, or that his 
energy and determination would have been unavailing if it had not 
been for that one flower ? 
It is true he had, and still has, I believe, “ a head with something 
in it ; ” but I cannot fail to credit “ An Exhibitor ” also with this 
endowment. Let him also have his heart in the r’ght, place, and with 
patience and perseverance (but not without them) he mav confidently 
look forward to having a “ pocket with something in it ” as well.— 
W. R. Raillem. 
VEGETABLES IN AND OUT OF SEASON. 
"Vegetables in season, no doubt, most readers of the Journal 
are concerned in, but this may not be true of those not in season, 
for the reason that only under exceptional circumstances and con¬ 
ditions are thev produced, so that it does not become a question 
involving more than a casual interest. In gardens fully equipped, 
both as regards labour and appliances, it is possible to have 
vegetables that are not considered seasonable throughout tho 
autumn, winter, and spring months, and in establishments where 
such are provided it not infrequently becomes a matter of course 
proceeding rather than the opposite, and the luxury held in much 
less high esteem by the great and affluent families than by others 
of more moderate wealth where such are presented. 
Those that might be consilered in one, though not in a general 
sense unseasonable, would include French Beans, new Potatoes, 
forced Asparagus, Turnips, Carrots, Cauliflowers, and Seakale. 
It is admittedly a very pleasant experience to be favoured with an 
indefinite supply of such at almost any time, and their production 
should, and do generally, merit appreciation. French Beans are 
foremost among the autumn forced vegetables, and their growth, 
where a large supply is required, entails a considerable amount of 
labour, and it is the general rule in large girdens for these to be 
ready for use in pots by the time the outdoor supply is cut off by 
frost. Such work as concerning the garden might be greatly 
minimised by salting down selected surplus pods during the summer. 
These certainly are not popular in the kitchen, as they require 
much time in passing them through several courses of clear water 
so as to free them from the salt, and they are also from their flaccid 
character more difficult to prepare for cooking—hence their ob¬ 
jection with the cook. 
Young tender Cirrots are ea*y enough to procure at almost any 
time where frame accommodation is plentiful, which in winter and 
early spring provide achoic9 and delicate dish; and the same remark 
applies with some truth to Potatoes, although these are not so 
commonly grown for an autumn and early winter supply as Carrots, 
or Beans. "Seakale and Asparagus demand, perhaps, more general 
attention than any I have' enumerated, and are always greatly 
prized in winter and spring. The old method of forcing Seakale 
by means of pots and stable manure is not so generally practised 
as formerly, because the present system of growing a fresh stock 
of crowns from their thong-like roots annually provides a superior 
sample, and is less laborious in attenlant cultural requirements. 
The forcing of Asparagus requires a good deal more time and space 
than Seakale, and a thorough system of procedure must necessarily 
be observed and practised. Only by an annual sowing or. planting 
in spring can a yearly demand be met with strong roots suitable for 
forcing. 0 Tinder good culture two or three seasons are required to 
bring up to this desirable stage of development, and cases are not 
uncommon where the ordinary or outdoor supply thwarts the inten¬ 
tions or ambitions of many intelligent men holding responsible 
positions, although now that culture from seed is more generally 
adopted obstacles of bygone days are yearly becoming less. Dung 
beds are requisitioned by some for the forced supply of this popular 
vegetable ; but greater ease and certainty is secured by modern 
wa°ter-heated structures, because proper temperatures are better 
and more under the control of the attendant than manure-heated 
bodies usually are. 
Turnips lose much of their bolting tendency when sown under 
glass in spring. If it were not so they would be scarcely worth the 
trouble such work entails, and where frame accommodation is 
plentiful Turnips ready for use may be had almost by the time ic 
i 3 safe to sow outdoors. With similar convenience the autumn 
outdoor sowing and winter treatment of Cauliflowers may be 
altogether dispensed with ; the late varieties of Broccoli now in 
cultivation making it a more simple matter to supply Cauliflowers 
without the occasion of any approach to a prolonged interval by an 
early spring sowing to be planted either outdoors or under irame 
protection absolutely. Collections of vegetables form an interest¬ 
ing, important, and sometimes imposing feature at many of the 
autumn Chrysanthemum shows ; when even at this early dale, 
forced vegetables go a long way in deciding their respective merits, 
sometimes perhaps to the exclusion of more useful because season¬ 
able displays. Seakale aid Asparagu*, too, are valuable adjuncts 
to the early winter list, but I am inclined to agree with the many 
expressions of competitive and non-competitive individuals I 
have often met as to the undesirability of such labour creating 
produce figuring prominently in early November exhibits, because 
it would be few who would appreciate such at the table at so early 
