Sepember 11, 1897. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
21 
A weed indeed. —An American contemporary re¬ 
cently described Plantago major as foremost among 
those pests which encourage backache, and foster 
ill temper and profanity. 
Mr. Chas. Ilott gave a practical demonstration 
of the summer management of fruit at St. Agnes ou 
Thursday, August 26th. Several gardens were 
visited by the party, and the lecturer very clearly 
explained the manner in which the trees should be 
pruned. A lengthy list of the best dessert and cook¬ 
ing Apples was given. A goodly number of gardeners 
attended. ._ 
Tropaeolum speciosum.—At Brucklay, Aberdeen¬ 
shire, this showy climber does not seem to have 
moved a foot from where it was growing ten or 
twelve years ago. Nor has it been liberally fed with 
manure, as in the case mentioned by Mr. J. C. 
Stogdon last week. It was planted against the wall 
of a house, and a gravelled walk comes close up to 
it, thus preventing all escape from its well-trodden 
root-run. It is still in full bloom and apparently 
happy. 
Tea Roses at Aberdeen. — Recently we stated that 
Messrs. Adam & Craigmyle, Aberdeen, secured the 
premier award for Tea Roses at the annual show 
there. They had some very noteworthy blooms in 
their stand, including the pure white Souvenir de S. 
A. Prince, the deep yellow Amazone, and that beau¬ 
tifully formed white Rose, The Bride. Very good in 
every respect were Madame Charles, apricot-yellow ; 
and Madame Hoste, white. All these were very 
creditable after the wild season experienced in Scot¬ 
land during the past summer. 
Wintry weather in the North. —Ben Nevis is al¬ 
ready mantled with 6 in. of snow. In the inland 
districts of Aberdeenshire, between Ellon and Auch- 
nagat, many of the fields of Potatos were blackened 
with frost on the morning of the 4th inst. Though 
the morning opened fine, it began to rain heavily 
about mid-day, and continued for two days, after 
which there was a cessation, to be renewed about 
mid-day on Monday last. The breeze on Saturday 
soon rose to a gale, putting a stop to harvesting 
operations, and making locomotion difficult. Low- 
lying fields of Potatos at Inverkeillor, south of Mon¬ 
trose, also show how general the frost has been. 
Buchlyvie Gardeners. —The thirteenth annual exhi¬ 
bition of the Buchlyvie Horticultural Society was 
held in the Public Hall, Buchlyvie, on Saturday, 
28th ult. The show, although not so large as last 
year, was considered very good, taking into considera¬ 
tion the cold spring and backward season. Pot 
plants were very good ; cut flowers were a feature of 
the show, and compared favourably with other local 
shows in the neighbourhood. Vegetables were good, 
especially Onions and Leeks. The African Mari¬ 
golds, Comet Asters, and Carnations exhibited by 
Mr. Cross were good ; also the Dahlias exhibited 
by-Mr. McPhail. A feature of this show was a neat 
exhibition stand of Ichthemic Guano, manufactured 
by Mr. William Colchester, Ipswich, England, and 
exhibited by the local agent, Mr. Alex. Cross, and 
hopes are entertained that its use as a fertiliser will 
be proved in the district next year. 
Petite Culture.—It is now a number of years ago 
since Mr. Gladstone advised farmers to grow fruit 
and flowers, and his advice has been proved good by 
a letter recently received by him from Mr. R. H. 
Bath, of Wisbeach, Cambridgeshire. The letter is as 
follows :— 
" Dear Sir,—Some years ago, in a speech made at 
Hawarden, you suggested that under certain condi¬ 
tions farmers should devote a part of their laud to 
the culture of fruit and flowers. I am pleased to 
say that I took your advice, especially with regard to 
flowers, and that for the past three years, although I 
have largely increased my growth, I have received 
many more orders than I have been able to supply. 
You will, I am sure, be pleased to hear that I send 
cut flowers to dwellers in our large towns at a cost to 
them of something like fifty per cent, under what 
they formerly had to give; also that I am able to 
pay my workpeople twenty per cent, higher wages 
than they used to receive when the land was worked 
for purely agricultural purposes. In addition to this 
I put by a very substantial profit for my self.’ 1 
THE GARDEN SALPIGLOSSIS. 
As ah annual for sunny sites there is, perhaps, 
nothing much more showy—when well grown—than 
the new and beautiful varieties of Salpiglossis 
sinuata. It is, therefore, only in such seasons as we 
are passing through, that this brilliant South 
American subject can fulfil its highest floral mission. 
Sunshine, and sunshine accompanied by a high 
temperature, it must have ; it is a sine qua non ; and 
if, in addition, the soil be light, rich and warm, and 
the culture adequate, there is no reason why the 
result should not be of surpassing brilliance. But 
this can only be brought about by massing; as, in 
itself, the plant is of a slender habit, if not positively 
weak and weedy, so that to produce the desired 
effect a large bed must be in request. 
Such a bed came under my notice the other day at 
Brook House, Chigwell, the residence of Mrs. 
Mildred, which the gardener, Mr. C. Skingsley, had 
well conceived. The colours were of the most 
glowing description and were variously mixed and 
blended. Moreover, these colours ranged from pale 
yellow to dark purple with many intermediate shades, 
while others affected stripes or lines, or were beauti¬ 
fully crossed or reticulated. The flowers are also of 
a soft metallic lustre, funnel-shaped, or campanulate 
in character, with five lobes and a long tongue-like 
style; hence its common name—which is merely a 
translation of its Latin one—viz., '* Scalloped Jube- 
tongue.” Many other showy annuals are approved 
at Brook House, but here I must give the Palm to 
the large-flowered modern forms of S. sinuata.— 
C. B. G. Acton, W. 
-- 
CARNATIONS AT KELSO-ON-TWEED. 
In the south and midlands the time of Carnatians is 
now past and gone, but in the north good blooms are 
still being cut out-of-doors. A boxful of very bright 
flowers reached us on the last day of August from 
Messrs. Laing & Mather, Kelso-on-Tweed. A num¬ 
ber of varieties was included, jail of which do well 
across the Tweed, and some of them this side of it. 
Of these is Haye’s Scarlet, still one of the best 
scarlet seifs in cultivation. Duchess of Fife bears a 
resemblance to Ketton Rose, but is slightly deeper in 
colour, and the petals are more fimbriated. Mary 
Morris is a rich rose, and a large flower with a stout 
calyx. Lady Nina Balfour is almost as large as a 
Malmaison, and has a large substantial petal. The 
colour is deep flesh pink. Dundas Scarlet is a grand 
free-flowering variety with flowers of large size, 
bright scarlet in colour, and invested with a stout 
non-splitting calyx. Viscountess Hill resembles the 
last-named variety in build, but is of deeper hue, and 
approaching crimson. It may be described as dull 
crimson-scarlet. Queen of Bedders is a very 
vigorous sort with deep scarlet flowers and petals 
having fimbriated edges. It should prove valuable 
as a bedder and thus bear out its title. A scarlet 
seedling that was also enclosed was rather a fuller 
flower, but not so good, the petals being small and 
too much inclined to curl. The colour, however, 
was very good. An old, and at one time, largely 
cultivated fancy variety was represented by Terra 
Cotta. The flowers exhibit a curious mixture of 
orange-yellow, rosy-red, and magenta. Kelso Abbey, 
another pretty fancy, is orange-yellow, thickly striated 
with heavy markings of rose-magenta. Primrose 
League was the best yellow ground submitted. The 
deep rose markings are very numerous, and give the 
flower a mottled appearance. Such a boxful of 
blooms as were these would delight any southern 
grower at this time of year. 
- •*— - 
JUDGING FLOWERS, FRUITS, AND 
VEGETABLES. 
Ix is hardly possible to find two judges holding the 
same opinion on this subject! When more than one 
judge is appointed to each section of a show, the one 
that sticks most persistently to his opinion, and has 
the freest delivery in his conversation, generally gets 
the decision given in accordance with his ideas. 
The opinions of the competitors vary just as much 
as the opinions of the judges. After a show is de¬ 
clared open, it is very amusing to go round the exhi¬ 
bits and hear them all judged over again by the 
competitors and their friends; in fact it is one of the 
attractions of the show. A gardener with three 
under him in the garden (only a woman and two boys) 
is quite indignant if his opinion is not accepted in 
preference to a gardener who has only one man under 
him. Another will give bis opinion in that " decision- 
shall-be-final” tone, and then goes away without 
hearing the opinions of others. This is the gardener 
from the great big place who has nothing to learn 
from anybody. Another who has no opinion of his 
own is always asking anyone he knows, how he was 
not first in this or that competition. Another will 
buttonhole you to hear him judge something all over 
again to his satisfaction but contrary to the decision 
of the judges. 
All this misunderstanding amongst competitors and 
judges arises from the want of a few first principles 
in judging, and a standard of excellence for each com¬ 
petition being embodied in the schedule. For instance 
it might be stated that the nearer a vegetable stood 
to perfection for culinary purposes, the greater would 
be the competitor’s chance of success, and judges 
would be expected to keep this principle in 
view in giving their decision. This is a fundamental 
principle often forgotten. The same principle should 
be stated for fruits, adding the words “and dessert" 
after culinary. The most beautiful should be the 
principle guiding the competitors and judges in plants 
and cut flowers ; this principle is also forgotten at 
times. A standard of excellence should be stated 
for each of the competitions in flowers, fruits, and 
vegetables. 
There is nothing that has given rise to more dis¬ 
cussion than how to judge one miscellaneous group 
against another. For example, in the case cf a 
collection of vegetables of any twelve kinds, you are 
told on every hand it can only be done by point 
judging. Let us examine what this point judging 
means. It simply means that a judge takes a certain 
number, say five, to represent high water mark in his 
estimation, and he goes over the collection and gives 
each dish of vegetables five points, or a less number, 
according to the position it holds in his estimation; 
he then adds them up and the total is the estimate of 
the collection as a whole. He then passes on to the 
next collection and it may total the same number of 
points, but he is not done yet. This collection con¬ 
tains two or three vegetables of a different kind from 
the other collection, so he examines them on what 
he calls their " relative value," and he says some¬ 
thing like this. " An Onion goes before a Leek" or a 
“ Beetroot before a Carrot" or a " Cauliflower before 
a Cabbage," and gives additional points to one or 
other of the collections, and so places one or other of 
them first. The anomaly of judging one variety 
against another is great enough, but when we have 
subjects not even belonging to the same natural 
order competing against each other it is an absurdity. 
The only condition in which miscellaneous groups 
can compete against each other is "for effect." 
Some schedules put it “ for quality and effect," but 
the term " quality” in this sense is quite as absurd 
as the term " relative value” ; in fact, it comes to the 
same thing. For instance one group of plants may 
contain a large percentage of Crotons; another a 
large percentage of Pancratiums ; and according to 
the predilection of the judge for Crotons or Pancra¬ 
tiums the decision may depend. Who can say a 
Croton is better than a Pancratium, a Gooseberry 
than a Strawberry, or a Leek than a Savoy ? They 
are all good in their way, and shouldnot.be compared 
the one against the other, as it leads to no useful end. 
But a Croton against a Croton, a Strawberry against 
a Strawberry, and a Leek against a Leek, leads to 
the highest development of these respective subjects ; 
and it is the only form of competition that should be 
encouraged.— IV.K. 
-- 
PEOPLE WE HAVE MET. 
Mr. David William Thomson. 
We have frequently had the opportunity of meet¬ 
ing this gentleman, and therefore have much 
pleasure in presenting our readers with his portrait. 
Mr. Thomson is the only son of Mr. David Thomson, 
late of Dumlanrig, and a nephew of the late Mr. 
William Thomson, of Clovenfords. He was born at 
Durhan Park, Herts, where his father then resided, 
and commenced his gardening career with him at 
Dumlanrig, where he stayed four years. His 
knowledge of nursery work was gained with Messrs. 
James Veitch & Sons, Chelsea, with whom he served 
for four years, making a practical study of the 
various departments of a nursery business. 
The subject of our notice has now been in business 
for 21 years, and carries it on under the style and 
title of Mr.David William Thomson, at 24, Frederick 
Street, Edinburgh. He has been closely identified 
