Nov. 15th, 1884. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
163 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.”— Bacon - . 
%\t fckitmg iEorlfr. 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15th, 1884. 
Dishonest Exhibitoes.—A sort of raid is just 
now being made against dishonest exhibiting, and 
of this raid we do not complain, because every¬ 
thing that is of a dishonest nature merits hearty 
disapproval. But those who live in glass houses 
should not throw stones, and those who have not 
been very successful exhibitors should be cautious 
how they fling mud at those of their fellows who 
are. It is very easy to make these general 
assertions but none dare publicly to individualize 
them. For that reason it is best to be careful, 
and if tangible proof is withheld the less said the 
better. In all such charges as are now being 
made against members of a profession the result 
follows, though such result is not intended, that 
all the profession alike suffer, the body is injured 
as well as the members. 
Thus we find strong language and expressions 
are being used with respect to a case of proved 
gumming of Eose-petals. It does not seem clear 
that such act of gumming in any way improved 
the flowers unless foreign petals were added, but 
that is not suggested, and the operator doubtless 
innocently thought that in thus securing greater 
permanence for his flowers he was but doing an 
act not more heinous than is seen in flower 
dressing preparatory to exhibiting for prizes. It 
is not our place to defend or extenuate this act, 
still less to heartily condemn without the motive 
was made more apparent than it now is, but, 
whether worthy of the chorus of condemnation 
created or not, at least it is certain that in making 
so much of this act very grave reflection has 
been cast upon the whole of the Bose-growing 
community. 
We should say that had the query been 
addressed to the score or more of rosarians 
whose opinions on the matter have been invited, 
“ Did the exhibitor in gumming the petals of his 
flowers thereby add to the beauty or merit of his 
blooms in any way ? ”—the general response 
would have been certainly not. But we are free 
to admit, that the exhibitor of anything who buys 
or borrows from some other grower or gardener 
exhibits that may help him to win prizes, if in 
doing so he contravenes any published regulation 
that exhibitors must have grown their produce, 
falls into a very different category. 
It is very well known that some exhibitors of 
Potatos used to oil or otherwise anoint their 
tubers for the purpose of making them look fresh 
and glossy on the show-table. It was an act that 
always defeated its object, because the exhibits 
always looked worse rather than better. Still, 
though no actual act of dishonesty was apparent, 
what was done was objectionable and was soon 
put down. This gumming seems to be a similar 
offence, but with both these offences, if they are 
such, should go the dressing of flowers, but to 
that course we are sure myriads of Chrysanthe¬ 
mum exhibitors will not agree. These examples 
after all show how very difficult it is to draw 
any satisfactory line. Indeed, there is the case 
of wiring single Dahlia blooms for exhibition, 
a common practice now, and not infrequently 
leading to the giving of the prizes to the most 
able artist in wiring, and yet this practice is not 
thought to be dishonest. 
Still we may well ask, as the object of both wiring 
anddressingis to give some sort of meretricious aid 
to show flowers, how far or in what respect are these 
actsless objectionable than gumming Boseblooms? 
There is danger that the apparent, and, perhaps, 
actual peccadilloes of some exhibitors, and 
especially those who show fruit, are being largely 
exaggerated. Hearsay evidence must always be 
regarded with suspicion, because it may after all 
be but prompted by jealousy or some other 
motive. The old Scriptural maxim, empowering 
him who is without sin to cast the first stone, is 
one well worthy of study ere any of us rush 
headlong into print to fall foul of a practice 
which intrinsically may be ever so wrong, but as 
to the connection of which with individuals it 
may be impossible to prove. 
There is danger that from discussions of this 
sort the public may come to the conclusion that 
gardeners generally, and specially those who 
exhibit at shows, are a very immoral set of 
persons. That would be a gross error. If there 
is any dirty linen to wash let it be done privately, 
and if now and then some positive case of 
dishonesty on the part of an exhibitor is found, 
the committees of the societies affected are the 
proper parties to deal with such offences, and 
they should deal with them sharply. One or 
two examples would have a salutary effect, but 
strong charges made broadcast is folly, and can 
only result in grave harm to a vocation which, if 
not more moral, is certainly not less so, than any 
other vocation in the kingdom. 
An Apple Faie. —A valued contributor writes: 
It was with feelings of disappointment I read 
the report of the Exeter Apple Show, which 
misnamed Apple Fair, led to the conclusion that 
something great and novel was being referred to. 
Perhaps that designation Fair is not more inexact 
than is the term Congress as applied to collections 
of Apples; therefore, although both may be 
misleading, yet we cannot quarrel with one alone. 
But the term Fair is so far suggestive of some¬ 
thing which may be created, that we would 
submit the desirability of establishing somewhere 
in the Metropolis next autumn a genuine Apple 
Fair, or if there be plenty of other hardy fruits, 
such as Pears, Nuts, &c., the subjects of the 
Fair might be increased, thus giving variety and 
creating interest. 
Of course a fair is something more than a 
show ; but it may be a show all the same. A fair 
should be a real place for sale and barter, and in 
this case the products on sale may well be good 
and plentiful, if the season, as there is good 
reason to hope it may be, is favourable. In all 
our Apple or really hardy fruit shows, we see 
stereotyped collections made up almost always of 
stereotyped kinds. Many, in fact almost all the 
exhibits are of high-class quality and of great 
beauty, but they prove very tantalizing to the 
general public who, as at the recent Health 
Exhibition, flock in thousands to see the exhibits, 
and yet cannot purchase what is set before them. 
Now, if a lond fide fair in association with a 
competitive exhibition of hardy fruits was held, 
we should see in operation the double inducement 
of prizes and chances of making profitable sales, 
and these should prove s'.: eng inducements to 
growers of all kinds to exhibit. 
Very specially one of the weak points of our 
fruit shows is found in the general absence of 
market growers and their exhibits, but in a fair 
if prizes were offered for the best bushel, half¬ 
bushel, and peck of Apples or Pears grown 
specially for market sale in market orchards, a 
capital competition might result, especially if the 
exhibitors should have the privilege of disposing 
of their fruit to the highest bidder. The petty 
half-dozen of fruits or platefuls should not enter 
into such a competition as this ; indeed, in all 
cases, no single exhibit should be less than a peck 
or 14 lbs. of fruit. 
Nurserymen especially might hail with satis¬ 
faction such a show or fair as is thus suggested, 
because they could not only exhibit samples of 
their fruits, but also could trade in trees and very 
widely advertise their wares. Private gardeners 
who may not sell, could equally well compete in 
special classes, but it should be understood that 
the fair was established to promote barter as well 
as competition. 
The late Me. A. Sheaeee.— We heard with 
sorrow, as we were going to press last week, of 
the death of a warm-hearted friend in the person 
of Mr. Alexander Shearer, late gardener at 
Yester, East Lothian. Mr. Shearer had, we 
understand, not felt so robust as usual, for some 
months past, and succumbed to an attack of 
paralysis on October 31st, at Dollar, after only 
a few days’ serious illness. Mr. Shearer’s name 
was associated with Yester and its gardens for 
nearly forty years, and on leaving there 
consequent on considerable reductions on the 
estate a few years ago, he started in business as 
a Landscape Gardener, and met with much 
encouragement and success. It is, however, 
from his long connection with Yester, and the 
many valuable improvements carried out by him, 
both in the gardens and on the estate, that he 
was best known among gardeners and agricul¬ 
turists ; and numerous records of these operations 
appeared in the horticultural and agricultural 
journals during the period they were being 
carried out with remarkable skill and efficiency 
by Mr. Shearer, under the wise and liberal 
direction of the eighth Marquis of Tweedale, 
Mr. Shearer, who was a straightforward man, 
and much above the average of his class in 
general intelligence and force of character, had 
reached the good age of sixty-eight, and leaves 
a widow and married daughter, besides a large 
number of warm friends to mourn his departure. 
Wedding Flowees. —An event which is enough 
to make the hair on the heads of all bouquetists 
to stand on end has happened. A wedding has 
taken place in polite society at which flowers 
were entirely absent. If the fashion should grow 
up of having flowerless weddings, the custom 
would soon extend to other of our domestic 
events, then to table, home, and church decora¬ 
tions, till finally our whole domestic lives outside 
of our gardens would be depressed and saddened 
by the absence of flowers. Such a deprival of 
floral beauty would be at once a social and a 
business calamity, and would be productive 
of little less than ruin to many of those florists 
whose vocation it now is to supply what is some¬ 
times thought to be a necessity, but which 
the ever-changing tastes of fashion may at any 
moment show us to have been but an unstable 
luxury. 
At a time when trade is dull and singular 
languor overspreads our business life, it cannot 
be with other than anxious thoughts that growers 
of flowers for sale must contemplate the existing 
financial crisis, and yet we are not in the midst of 
a crisis either, because there is plenty of money 
in the land and the rich are still rich if the poor 
remain poor. But when trade generally is dull 
some form of trade is sure to suffer earliest, and 
that trade would inevitably be one that catered 
for luxurious habits,rather than for the necessaries 
of life. Naturally florists consider the strength 
of their trade to lie in the grip which it has on 
our social life, for a love for flowers exists in all 
stages of society. Without doubt that taste is a 
strong one and not easy to change. For the sake 
