468 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 1, 1887. 
border I fear it will not do well. The Muscats are inside and out, and 
there are good cro, s on both.— Stephen Castle, Manager, West Lynn. 
[The samples of Lady Downe’s are, as our correspondent describes 
them, one bunch having fine berries of superior, the other small and 
shrivelled berries of inferior quality. The largest berry in the best 
bunch contained five seeds, the smallest in the same bunch one seed, 
the majority two or three seeds. The smaller and shrivelled berries in 
the inferior bunch also contained two or three seeds, fertilisation thus 
appearing to have been equally effected in both cases, and the condition 
of the berries influenced by the condition of the Vines or differing 
treatment. We have seen hundreds of large Grapes with few seeds, and 
smaller berries crowded with them, therefore conclude that something 
in addition to seeds is necessary for the production of large berries, but 
given the flesh-forming requisites may not seeded berries be expected to 
attain a larger size than the seedless? Some naturally large berried 
varieties have few seeds, the Dutch Hamburgh for instance, and others 
might be named. The subject is an interesting one worthy of attention 
and discussion. What are the flesh-forming requisites ? Would these 
large Grapes with few seeds be larger still if they had more.] 
AMARYLLIS RETICULATA. 
Although this plant is usually grown as a stove foliage plant it is 
far more attractive when in flower. The flowers are large and of a 
beautiful rose-pink colour, delicately veined with dark pink, with a 
white stripe down the centre of each petal, contrasting well with the 
dark olive green leaves, which also have a broad pearly white stripe 
running down the centre of each leaf. To induce it to flower it requires 
rather different treatment from the majority of Amaryllises. The plant 
being an evergreen it is very injurious to dry it off, but it requires a 
distinct period of rest, not absolutely withholding water, but giving just 
sufficient through the winter months to keep the foliage from decaying. 
As the days lengthen and the temperature is raised more water will be 
required, and by the end of May or the beginning of June they will 
commence throwing up their flower spikes. When in flower they last 
for a considerable time if taken to the couservalory. 
They do not require to be potted very often, once in three or four 
years being quite frequently enough. Our plants are potted in three 
parts loam and one part leaf mould, with a good sprinkling of silver 
sand. Four bulbs in a 32-sized pot produced seven spikes, which had a 
total of fifty flowers. I counted as many as twenty-seven open at one 
time, and we have several smaller plants which flowered equally as 
freely, and they have flowered for a number of years in the same way. 
They are grown in an intermediate house, which I think is the reason 
they flower more freely than plants grown in a stove temperature all 
the year through. —A. Whibley, Osborne House, Eastbourne. 
EXHIBITING—JUDGING BOUQUETS. 
As an humble aspirant for exhibition honours I have read with in¬ 
ter st the article on winning and losing prizes in a recent issue, also the 
remarks of Mr. G. Garner on judging hand bouquets. Both these articles 
are closely allied to each other, and as I have had a little experi¬ 
ence in winning and losing prizes, and exhibiting hand bouquets, I am 
tempted to offer a few remarks on them. First, I will take the winning 
and losing prizes in my own experience, and here I think lies the test 
of an exhibitor’s temper. I have many a time left the exhibition tent 
making sure of success when the exhibits have been close, but even my 
opponent has given me best, but on returning after the judues have 
been round have found my calculation entirely upset. The first 
quarter of an hour afterwards is always the worst. When the storm has 
blown over we have generally settled down to our fat“, and, like Mr. C. 
Turner, resolved to try again. Once I must confess to having a very 
long sulking fit over an exhibit, but the error was so glaring that it was 
the talk of the town for a very long time after, and even now it is re¬ 
ferred to at times, and I am only sorry I did not call in the committee 
as suggest d in your article, as by so doing it would have saved all the 
unpleasantness that has occurred since. I would suggest to all ex¬ 
hibitors (in glaring instances of error only) to have the decision of the 
committee on the day, and while the exhibits are on the table, rather 
than leave it and brood over it for months ; but 1 cannot help thinking 
that mistakes in judging would occur less often if the committees of 
shows would choose the men best fitted to judge the respective exhibits. 
I think some allowance should be made for exhibitors who are disap¬ 
pointed, and not too much notice be taken of a little outbreak of temper at 
the time, provided it does not last long, as no one knows but the ex¬ 
hibitor the strain that is put upon his nerves for a day or two before 
the show, and so on hour by hour till the work is done and the tent 
cleared. I can only say if a novice feels inclined to condemn any 
one of them let him enter for one or two good prizes at the next show 
and see for himself the effect a defeat would have on his stock of 
patient endurance. 
Dealing with the remarks on judging hand bouquets, I entirely agree 
with all the remarks Mr. G. Gamer makes as to bouquets being a good 
feature in any Show. Then, as to the Fern being inserted after the 
bouquets are staged, I hold with him it is entirely wrong, and the time 
was when I would have scorned the action, but evil communications 
corrupt good manners. I soon found if I was to win I must do what 
other exhibitors do — that is fill up the bare places with fresh Fern 
fronds, or if a piece of Fern was faded take it out and insert a fresh 
piece, both of which practices ought not to be allowed. 1 have seen a 
wreath of white flowers exhibited and take a prize with only the centre 
row of flowers fastened to the ring and then laid on the board, and tne 
other flowers and Ferns added the same as making up a table decora¬ 
tion, and no exhibitor in the same class, though beaten by it, was mean- 
enough to expose the trick. 1 have also competed with bouquets that 
have been partly made, and the “stick ups,” as they are termed in the- 
trade, inserted where required, simply by sticking the wired flowers into 
the base of the bouquet and have taken the beating (not in silence), 
but without public complaint, as that course would only create ill 
feeling and do no good. Any of the above tricks could easily be pre¬ 
vented if the judges would go thoroughly into the merits of a properly 
made bouquet, which I have been taught to consider was one where each 
flower showed itself fully, without being crowded, not comprising 
more than three or four different shades of colour, to be very light with- 
a small handle, and every part properly fastened. Of course the flowers 
used must depend on the taste of the exhibitor, and he must take his 
chance in the competition accordingly ; but I have seen bouquets win 
this year time after time with at least eight different colours and some¬ 
times as many as twelve, and on one or two occasions when they did not 
win I was asked for my opinion, and I had to point out Eucharises 
drawn in so that the flowers formed quite a cup, and other flowers 
packed accordingly. The bouquets were very pretty, and the best 
flowers that could be had, which I have considered have won the 
honours. I have also seen bouquets win containing flowers in the last 
stage of decay. On any of these points I should like to be put right as 
to what I am to do to be sure of gaining a first in any future contest. 
Now, as to Mr. Robson’s rules. Rule 1 l should like to see carried 
out at all shows ; that would soon put a stop to tricks. Rule 2.—As it is 
so long ago since Mr. Robson wrote them, the present neat papers and 
handles not being then obtainable, this ought to have all words takem 
out from “ shown to foliage.” Rule 3 is not necessary I should think. 
Rules 4, 5, 6, and 7 arc quite right: or in words I do not think anything 
can b- added to them.— A Learner. 
P.S.—Upon one occasion my contribution was placed behind a 
bouquet, which on critical examination we found had a handle about as 
large as that of a grub-axe, that I an sure no lady could have carried 
five minutes without making her hand ache.—A. L. 
Your correspondent Mr. Garner does well in bringing forward the 
above subject, since so much diversity of opinion exists as to points of 
excellence in the composition of hand bouquets, notably so in the case cf 
some recently exhibited in several well-known towns in the West of 
England, where size alone seems to constitute excellence, and this idea 
having gained ground, the result has been some monstrous exhibits) 
many of th j m frequently measuring 24 inches in diameter, and in one 
case 28 inches. How is this state of affairs brought about ? Certainly 
not on account of the prize money, which, if gained, would not cover the 
cost of one-quarter of the flowers used, but simply for the honour ; and 
as the only way to obtain that honour is, according to the present absurd 
idea (favoured also by the Judges) to make and exhibit one larger than 
any other competitor, the result has been an exhibition of some of the 
most ridiculous hand bouquets at the recent Bristol Chrysanthemum 
Show it has been my lot to come across. Whether or not the Society 
will see fit to insert a specification in their prize schedule for another 
year, it is to be sincerely hoped that the Judges will, by their decisions, 
give rise to a better idea of excellence. Although no doubt the evil will 
right itself eventually, as it is evident the climax has been reached, and 
it will be only the few that can afford the expense of procuring so large 
a quantity of choice flowers that will be 1 ft in the field, and instead of 
the array of bouquets generally brought together there will only be just 
one here and there having a “ walk over,” and these, finding th<-y have 
no opposition, will gradually reduce the size. As regards the judging 
of hand bouquets, I consider that a specification should be made both as 
to the limit of size, and also that the Judges should be at liberty to test 
the stability of its construction, and unhesitatingly reject all such as are 
made on what I should term the “ pincushion style,” in which thep 
flowers are stuck loosely on a wire network frame stuffed with moss, and 
which if inverted after the flowers are inserted would result in a total- 
wreck. 
Rules 1 and 4 of Mr. J. Robson’s list, with a limit as to size, are- 
in my opinion the ones that should be observed most in judging hand 
bouquets. —Florist. 
NOTES FROM ASHTON COURT. 
The month of November is not the best time in the year to visit 
gardens, whether large or small, with a view to admire the natural 
beauties of the place, or to inspect the valued treasures that find a con¬ 
genial home in the glass structures of modern gardens, but the im¬ 
proved methods of constructing and heating glass houses render it a 
matter of comparative ease to keep up a constant supply of choice 
flowers even in the depth of winter, and when visiting such extensive 
and well managed gardens as those under notice we are sure to find 
much to interest and please even in the dreary month of November. At 
Ashton Court a few weeks since I was particularly struck with the fine 
stock of winter-flowering plants then in flower or ready for flowering 
between the present time and Christmas. A long Peach house was 
principally occupied with a fine collection of Chrysanthemums grown 
for supplying cut blooms and for conservatory decoration, and a stock 
of plants more suitable for the purpose can scarcely be imagined, among 
them being most of the best varieties in cultivation. The foliage on 
the plants was good to the rim of the pots, and the flowers very bright and 
