180 
Journal of horticulture and cottage gardener. 
March the workmen leave at 3 P.M. every day, and although the hours 
are of course longer in the summer, the average working day throughout 
the year is less than eight hours. It is pleasant to record such facts as 
these, proving as they do beyond all dispute by the bitterest critics of 
royalty that a blind selfishness is not the invariable ruling passion in 
those whose path in life is exalted. Those in closest association with 
the Prince and Princess of Wales speak of never-failing courtesy and 
kindness, and the conditions of life which prevail amongst the workers 
at Sandringham have only to be imitated elsewhere to bring happiness, 
contentment, and prosperity to rural England.—W. P. W. 
(To be continued.) 
The Na-Tional Chrysa^tthemum Society. 
Having nothing at stake I did not avail myself of the first in¬ 
vitation to attend the annual meeting of the National Chrysanthemum 
Society ; but in order to test the clique question I embraced the first 
offered privilege to nominate a few well known country growers. Know¬ 
ing the certainty that no outsider stands the least chance of being 
elected on the Committee I did not take the trouble to ascertain whether 
my nominees would accept office, and I here tender them my humble 
apology for using their names entirely without their permission. 
However, the results of the recent election proceedings is a very 
faithful illustration of the late controversy published in the Journal oj 
Uortieulture; and as it is reported the Society has benefited by this 
said correspondence, it may be hoped the Editor will extend the 
privilege, as it appears the Society still needs all the assistance it can 
obtain. 
I am glad to see that a more modern system of electing members of 
the Committee is likely to be introduced, for surely the primitive method 
of merely showing hands can hardly be accepted as satisfactory, 
especially where it has to be repeated several times over, according to 
the number of nominations, and this in a crowded room. In these days 
of enlightenment, easy communication, and cheap postage, the 
elections ought to be made by ballot. This could easily be managed by 
the use of postcards. Then every member, however remote, could record 
his vote cheaply and efficiently, and thus make the Society in reality 
“ national ” instead of what it is at present.—J. H. Goodacbe. 
Electing Officers. 
I HAVE so much sympathy with your remarks with respect to the 
way in which the election of the N.C.S. Committee members were 
recently elected by show of hands, that in submitting the code of rules 
adopted from Gardeners’ Association here, I got a clause inserted that 
all contested elections should be by ballot. That was done to prevent 
any jerrymandering of the election by show of hands, as in our case the 
attempt to elect twelve members out of seventeen nominated on to the 
Committee would have led to endless trouble and misapprehension. 
All the names were written in chalk on a board, then each member was 
supplied with a piece of paper on which to write down his favoured 
twelve names. These were collected, counted by scrutineers, and 
reported without a murmur of dissatisfaction, because it was not only fair, 
but the only fair way of conducting such an election.—A. D., Kingston. 
The N.C.S. Annual Meeting. 
It affords me great pleasure to learn that the correspondence which 
has recently appeared in the Jorirnal of Horticulture anent the above 
Society has resulted in an addition to its number of members, and 
thereby given it strength. When I first brought the matter of its 
certificates to the notice of your readers I had no other wish but to 
strengthen the Society. With your permission, I will still continue such 
letters ; further, will you let me add, when the '‘Beauty of Exmouth ” 
correspondence is finished, I purpose publishing the whole in book form 
and to distribute it among the Chrysanthemum fraternity generally, and 
I expect the Committee of the N.C.S. will award me one of the Society’s 
very best medals for the great assistance I have given. 
Many members have written me asking why I did not attend the 
annual meeting and demand a thorough investigation into the Beauty 
of Exmouth case. To such let me reply that when I learn the Com¬ 
mittee are desirous of an unbiassed investigation I shall only be too 
pleased to meet them. To journey about 400 miles only to be “ sat on ” 
or talked down is a “ pleasure ” and expense I care not to indulge in. 
However, I have carefully read the Secretary’s annual report, and if not 
occupying too much space should like to offer a few remarks on it. Can 
Mr. Dean or any other official inform us why one particular name in 
connection with the Holmes Memorial challenge cups is given such 
prominence 1 Did the bearer of that name collect the whole of the 
money subscribed for the cups 1 If so, he certainly deserves a word of 
praise, and other matters will explain themselves. 
There were certainly just as important subjects omitted from the 
report—to wit, the “Wells ’’ case, and how a member of the Committee 
[ March 2, 1893. 
had been condemned for his action in the affair. Neither is there any¬ 
thing said about the Beauty of Exmouth case, the appointment of an 
“ Investigation Committee,” the result of the “investigation,” and how 
a lawyer was consulted,” ikc. Surely these matters are as important 
to the Society as the name of the member who initiated the Holmes’ 
Memorial cups. 
The next annual report should contain several interesting items. 
For example, “At the last annual meeting a new rule was proposed by 
Mr. Addison for the purpose of punishing offenders ; but the Secretary 
informed the meeting that if such rule was adopted he should resign 
his position as Secretary. Also, that when several gentlemen were pro¬ 
posed as members of the Committee attention was called to the fact 
that they had taken part in a controversy criticising the management 
of the Society.” But what curious reasoning some of the officials 
display ! These members had taken part in a discussion which had 
benefited the Society by adding to its number of members. One of 
your contemporaries comments on the fact that only Mr. Addison and 
Mr. Wells spoke in favour of the proposed new rule, which stipulates 
that any member found guilty of any irregularity should be expelled. 
If we may judge how Messrs. Pearson’s, Goodacre, and others’ names 
were received, it would only be fair to infer that any committeeman 
who supported such rule against the wish of certain officials would be 
a marked man. I can only say that I have received letters from many 
of the Committee in favour of such rule, and also favouring a thorough 
investigation into the Beauty of Exmouth case ; but they dare not 
speak, so it appears.—W. J. Godfrey, Kvmoufh, Devon. 
[We have another trenchant letter on this subject, for which we 
cannot possibly find room this week.l 
Chrysanthemum Mrs. Jacobs. 
This variety is deserving of more extended commendation than it 
has hitherto received. At Bradford, York, and Hull it obtained certifi¬ 
cates and attracted a large share of attention from the visitors. To those 
who do not look to mere size in a flower as its chief qualification, 
Madame Baco, from which Mrs. Jacobs is a sport, has always been 
highly appreciated for exhibition purposes ; but where medium-sized 
flowers for decoration purposes are required it has held a high place, and 
the sport when it becomes known will be an acquisition for either 
purpose on account of its popular colour, which may be best described 
as a warm terra cotta softened to a rosy fawn, difficult to describe but 
most beautiful in appearance.— Kiwi, 
Judging Cut Blooms—By Comparison. 
I HAVE many times been a witness of the various methods adopted 
by judges in arriving at their decisions regarding the relative merits of 
the stands of blooms in competition. That which I regard as being the 
least satisfactory is placing a stand of blooms in front of the opposing 
stand for examination as follows :—The top bloom in the left hand 
corner of one stand is compared with the flower occupying a similar 
position in the other stand, and so on until all are examined in the same 
manner. The number of points which one row is supposed to obtain 
over the opposing row is added to or taken off, as the case may be. 
When the same variety is met with in the two stands their relative 
merits are found and compared. But when can two stands of even 
twelve blooms be found to coincide so exactly all through? 
Suppose a well developed bloom of Avalanche came in comparison 
with an exceedingly good one of Stanstead White, although Avalanche 
was in the opposing stand, also the latter, owing to the difficulty 
experienced in obtaining, it would score two points over its rival, as the 
former can be grown so much more easily. Again, suppose the same 
three blooms in the first stand. A, were Viviand Morel, W. W. Coles, and 
Avalanche, and in a similar position, in stand B, Etoile de Lyon, 
E. Molyneux, and Elaine. Presuming the blooms in stand A were 
superior to those in stand B, three points would be scored by stand A. 
But if in stand B the same varieties were found as named in stand A and 
of much superior merit individually, and they were compelled to com¬ 
pete with, for instance, Boule d’Or, Stanstead White, and Mrs. Alpheus 
Hardy, although of superior quality to those of the same name in 
the opposing stand, they would be outclassed by reason of the difficulty 
experienced in producing the blooms of these sorts. In my opinion 
justice would not be done to blooms so placed, and I know that the plan 
of searching for the same varieties in the two stands for just comparison 
is not the general practice. 
From a close observation of methods adopted by various judges I 
think there is but one way to arrive at a just estimate of each bloom, 
and that is by determining beforehand upon a maximum number of 
points and allotting them accordingly. I would, in conclusion, suggest 
to adjudicators who adopt the practice and method I condemn to 
consider the matter well between now and the next show season 
and see if my remarks are not justified.— Sadoc. ’ 
Chrysanthemums as Annuals. 
I hope I shall not surprise the growers of large blooms for exhibition 
by adopting such a title to my paper, or that others will not think that 
I am furthering the interest of those firms who offer prizes for plants 
grown from seed purchased direct from them. The apparent ease with 
which Chrysanthemum seed can now be purchased, and the large 
amount of interest to be gained by trying the experiment, alone prompts 
me to pen this short article. 
During the early part of last year I tried the experiment by sowing 
