July 16, 1887. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
729 
the bearing was more on the growing of Rhubarb for 
the private establishment than for market. 
The next point is, I think, that I ought to have 
given credit to whom much credit is due, as to the 
introduction into notice of Hawkes’ Champagne 
Rhubarb. To Mr. Gilbert, of Burghley, is the honour 
due, primarily and largely, for the introduction and 
persistency of advocacy of this kind of Rhubarb. 
Ho has advocated its claims to the notice of all 
Rhubarb growers steadily and persistently for a long 
time. The early numbers of the Gardening World 
bear witness to that, and be wrote of it many years 
before it was in the bands of nurserymen to circulate. 
I, myself, am indebted to him for it; as I said in my 
paper, I was always on the look-out for better kinds of 
Rhubarb, so, amongst our correspondence (an honour 
I prize highly) having seen one of his panegyrics on 
Hawkes’ Champagne in one of the gardening papers, 
I wrote, asking him to bless me, “ even me,’’ with this 
inestimable variety. Almost before I had time to look 
around and fix on a place in the garden where to put 
it, a hamper full of roots was in the garden from 
Burghley, waiting for attention as to planting. Mr. 
Gilbert has the gardener’s generosity in him in full 
measure, as those can testify (they are many) who 
have been recipients of his bounty. So much for my 
point on Hawkes’s Champagne, except that now more 
FLOWER SHOW JUDGING. 
“ Heath End ” is perfectly right in demanding that 
judging at shows shall in all cases have a tangible 
basis, and not be subject to the whims and fancies of 
men, not all of whom, even though having great 
names, are the most consistent or practical. I have 
seen quite as many mistakes made by “big pots,” as 
they are irreverently termed, at shows as by com¬ 
paratively unknown men, and I strongly advise 
committees to ignore all chattering gossiping judges 
who think far more of their talk than of their work. 
But do what one may, there will ever remain grave 
differences of opinion between judges as to what 
constitutes merit in exhibits ; but thosedifferences can 
be endured if the judging throughout be consistent and 
intelligent. “Heath End’s” case of Apple judging 
shows that the judges deliberately ignored the conditions 
of the schedule, unless the dead ripe fruit named were 
after all the best specimens of the best sorts shown. 
On that point no evidence is given. 
I am rather surprised that so practical a writer 
should suggest that judges be compelled to award 
prizes by quality and not to quantity, without indicating 
how the compulsion is to be applied. Possibly, if 
before judging commences, the judges were informed 
by the officials of the show that the awards were to be 
mind with bias. I do not for one moment subscrib 
to the opinion that pinching a plant is distorting it. 
So far from that being the case, we are really helping 
nature to establish a good base upon which, when the 
pinching is over, she can erect a superstructure of 
substantial beauty.— A. D. 
- ~>X<~ - 
HERBACEOUS ALPINE PLANTS 
IN FLOWER. 
Linaria pallida. —While much larger in all its 
parts than L. hepaticsefolia, this species forms a beau¬ 
tiful and interesting rockery plant. Its creeping under¬ 
ground stems penetrate the soil in every direction and 
appropriate or monopolise all the available surface, 
showing, moreover, great preference for the moist 
surface of rocks or stones with which they come in 
contact. Although it may be described as perfectly 
hardy, the underground stems close to or in the vicinity 
of sunken stones retain their vitality best, and consti¬ 
tute the head-quarters or starting point from which it 
pushes again in spring. The leaves are kidney-shaped, 
and the comparatively large flowers are pale purple. 
Double - flowered Sneezeavort. — Few unac¬ 
quainted with this form of Achillea ptarmica would 
recognise in it a native weed, common in many places, 
and by no means conspicuous. The double form pro- 
Choice Varieties of Gaillardia. 
than one or two trade establishments have it in stock, 
therefore there can be no difficulty in getting it, and 
getting it true. Certainly, Mr. Gilbert’s is the true 
variety. 
My last point is a duty to Johnstone’s St. Martin’s 
Rhubarb. It possesses, for the gardener, one invaluable 
property, and that is the property of throwing up 
young sticks or stalks all through the summer. Where 
a gardener is situated as I am, with a daily call for 
Rhubarb for stewing as a sweetmeat, fresh young 
stalks are a necessity, and a godsend is that variety 
which will produce them. My favourite sort, Hawkes’, 
will, but not to the same extent as Johnstone’s ; at 
least, that is my experience, and therefore I shall 
never give up the growing of this variety—indeed, a 
gardener who possesses Hawkes’ Champagne, John¬ 
stone’s St. Martin’s, and Victoria or Stott’s Monarch 
Rhubarb, or both these Rhubarbs, has, I consider, the 
best and most useful varieties in cultivation.— N. II. 
Povmall, Lenton Hall Gardens, Nottingham, July 1 1th, 
1887. 
Crested Moss and White Moss Roses. — 
Some sprays of these before me seem to ask the 
question so often suggested by fine old plants, “Why 
are we not more grown?” Surely, they are both 
beautiful enough to please everybody—the crested Moss, 
with its well-formed pink buds seemingly already set 
up in the tops of Fern-fronds, and the white ones 
nestling in their mossy beds. Some day a good stand 
of each will be exhibited, and then they will get another 
start, perhaps. — 0. B. 
based absolutely upon “quality,” without reference to 
dimensions or quantity, of anything, something in the 
direction which “Heath End ” looks for would follow. 
But we have not yet any definition as to what constitutes 
quality. I have my opinions on the matter, and “Heath 
End ” has his ; but it is obvious that no two persons may 
absolutely agree as to what constitutes quality in all 
cases—perhaps, in few. Begonias have been referred 
to for instance. Now, I do not think that big flowers 
on these plants constitute quality ; I rather think 
them objectionable. Medium-sized well-formed flowers, 
very freely produced on stout erect stems, the plants 
being of robust but compact habit, would be, in my 
estimation, the perfection of quality. As to big 3-in. or 
4-in. flowers, sparsely borne on lanky stems, I think 
them ugly. 
Again, I find beautiful quality in the drooping 
strains of Begonias, which bloom so profusely, and 
seem so admirably adapted for vases, brackets or 
baskets. These, perhaps, would not carry weight at 
flower shows, but to me they are far more beautiful 
than are the staring big-flowered kinds. Another 
person, perhaps “ Heath End ” himself, would prefer 
the large-flowered sorts. So much for attempting to 
compel equable judging. To some persons the glorious 
uncertainty of human judgments at flower shows con¬ 
stitutes a special attraction. No man can thus in all 
cases be certain as to his position, and if hard and fast 
or rule of thumb lines were always followed, judging 
would lose all its present interest. We must bear in 
mind the exhibitor is always the worst of judges, 
because regard for his own products overwhelms his 
duces little globular flower-heads in great abundance, 
and of the purest white. As cut flowers they are 
pretty and extremely useful for mixing with others for 
certain purposes, and although they lack the size and 
gaudy appearance of many exotics from climes more 
favoured than ours, yet their purity and neatness 
render them very useful for decoration in various 
ways. The cultivation of native plants should be 
encouraged, keeping their improvement in view. 
The Cardinal Monkey Flower. —The flowers of 
Mimulus cardinalis must not be compared to M. luteus 
or any of its large improved garden forms in the matter 
of size ; but so far as colour is concerned, there are 
none to equal it in the genus. It belongs to the erect 
stemmed and narrow-mouthed type, and grows 
generally about 18 ins. high, but under favourable 
conditions as to moisture and soil, it may attain a 
height of 3 ft. The flowers are not scarlet, as the name 
implies, but are rather of an intense rose-red in the 
finer forms, several of which occur in gardens. 
Dianthus Grievei. —Under this name a rather 
attractive and ornamental hybrid form is grown on the 
rockery at Kew. It is said to have a parentage between 
D. alpinus and D. barbatus. In habit it certainly 
resembles the latter, but is scarcely half the height, 
while the flowers are much larger, and apparently 
intermediate between the two. The colour is rather 
inconstant, being generally of a rosy pink, but flowers 
frequently occur, even in the same truss that are white, 
or almost so, with a distinct pink Picotee margin. In 
the pink colour, and deeply toothed margin to the 
petals, a trace of D. alpinus is discernible. 
