112 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
February 6. 1904. 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 
Calanthe Veitchii and Cypripedium Insigne. 
To the Editor of The Gardening Would. 
Sib With reference to “ W. W.’s ” letter at page 81 on the 
-above subject, permit me to point out to your readers- that 
“ W. K.,” “ Semi-Darknes's,” and. the “ Exhibitor axe- all one 
person, a-nd his two effus-ions are just the outpourings- of jea- ou-s 
wrath. Being the victim of his own imagination, he imagmea 
that the judge described his exhibit as without any merit- (the 
true version will be found at page 49). , VY ,• 
In an evil moment he published at p. 1049, Vo-1, aA., his 
version of the criticism, which he- now finds- has been con¬ 
clusively proved not to be a- true one. Instead of owning up 
his fault with.the grace of a gentleman, “ his weakness proves 
his madness-.” He is so- blinded with his- own virtues, imagi¬ 
nations-, and estimations that he is adding insult to injury when 
he hint-s that the president and secretary are alone responsible 
for calling on what he imagines to- be unjust judges, lhe 
fallacy of this -argument is apparent when I state that W. lv. 
wa? the seconder when this arrangement wa-s- proposed at, the- 
beginning of the session. His jealousy is vividly displayed 
when lie mentions his conversation with -a former secretary, 
and how he could have had a certificate, but did not consider 
them worth the trouble of writing just the old fable, ie 
fox and the grapes.” There is still another point- which I 
wo-uld like to- maker clear—“ W. Iv.’s ” reference to what.he 
terms a very, unusual procedure, “ the criticism of the exhibit. 
He does not forget to po-int.o-ut that- good ta-ste should withhold 
adverse criticism, even should the exhibit- deserve it, his 
meaning is obvio-us to the intelligent reader. 
I am certain I a-m voicing the whole of the members present 
on that occasion when. I state that s-uch -a fallacy only exists 
■ in “ W. K.’s ” imagination, and that there wo-uld have been 
ho mention made of a-certificate had not ‘ W. K. first said 
that he would be more than pleased if the- judges awarded a 
certificate. This wa-s akin to asking it, and, taking all the 
circumstances into- account, there wa-s- no- other course open 
than fo-r the judge to- express the. opinion given. T do- not wish 
-to deter “ W. K.” from gratifying the desire of Mr. Pe-nton 
to write an article in 11 G. W. on. Calanthe-s. If he- is- not. 
already past taking advice, I would say let him be more accu¬ 
rate -in his statements-. It. is facts; we wish to- read in the 
“ G. W.” Fiction, imaginations, and misrepresentations- can 
be had elsewhere. James Bethel, Secretary. 
Westwood Gardens, Newporhon-Tay. 
An Ominous Reminder. 
To the Editor of The Gardening World. 
Sir, —What- has. become- of that arrogant individual who 
wrote from Aberdeenshire a few-weeks since making such par¬ 
ticular inquiries’ about Chrysanthemums'? He expressed the 
particular hope that his flippant remarks wo-uld meet my eyes, 
and he -requested me to- inform him through the medium of 
this- journal whether my methods of procedure were- so far out 
of time as to go -stopping -certain varieties during the first 
week of June, which ought to have been stopped in February 
and March; and the masterly manner in which he addressed 
these remarks' conveyed the -mipres-si-on that he wa-s radiant 
with wa-titlei-blo-ssom-and the glowing assumption that he- could 
easily tell the'world better than that. 
I immediately furnished the Requested'information, and will 
now be extremely pleased to hear what additional light this 
individual ha-s been able t-o- -shed on this intricate- theme. The 
world, unregenerate- as. it is, has a. right to- expec-t a vigorous 
and sweeping article from, this individual after the remarks 
he made in the paragraph referred to. A considerable number 
of Gardening World readers in this district, and with whom 
I come in daily -contact, have spoken, to me several times about 
the flippant interrogations of this; individual, and, acting on 
their suggestions-, I accordingly give- him this- poke- up, and 
am to inform him that unless- and until he produces this- sweep¬ 
ing article, the assumption will daily strengthen, that- he is 
just about as well qualified to- write articles on Chrysanthemums 
and their culture as the parrots are to give lessons in Euclid and 
algebra. 
Since “ G. B.” communicated these remarks to the Press 
other thorny-’S-ided queries have been propounded on Chrysan¬ 
themums-, and which as yet remain unanswered, and apparently 
“ G. B.” imagines that it is best to- maintain a strict silence. 
In the meantime, and in the course of a few weeks, it shall 
all be forgotten ; no more- will be heard of it. 
Come away, “ G. B.” Let us- hear from- you before it is 
all forgotten. We are- perfectly well aware that no additional 
light- can you -shed in the matter. No uncertainties can you 
eliminate, hut you can easily give the world a repetition of 
what it already knows. J C. Peebles. 
Calanthe Veitchii—“ Semi-Darkness ” and “ W. K.” 
To the Editor of The Gardening World. 
Sir, —“ W. Iv.’s ” curious reading of Mr. Bethel’s last- letter 
is illuminating, and gives us the key to his first nom-de-plume 3 
but, as no- do-ubt- Mr. Bethel will answer for himself, I will pass 
“ W. K.’s ” latest- strictures without comment. 
My -object in writing is- to- .state- two- facts which may help 
Mr. Ponton to -apprehend -the situation. Let me say I am the 
offending judge, and what I said in regard to the exhibit of 
Calanthe® and -Cypripediums referred to- was this : I commended 
-the Calant-hesi a-s well-grown examples-, the bulbs being large 
and just su-c-h as-would produce fine spikes. The variety, how¬ 
ever, w-a® of very ordinary merit and pale in colour. The 
Cypripediums we-re also- go-o-d average examples, but the exhibit, 
while meritorious as a whole, was certainly not of such out¬ 
standing merit as t-o- warrant- the association awarding its cer- 
tifiea-t-e. 
At the following monthly meeting of the association I 
brought before the members- the gro-ss perversion of my state¬ 
ments as given by “ Semi-Darkness ” in. your issue of Decem¬ 
ber 19th last (“an. exhibit without any merit ”), and the meet¬ 
ing having in mass supported my position, I -asked that the 
exhibitor should apologise for so grossly misrepresenting my 
language-, but the darkness only deepened, fo-r, rather than 
apologise-, the- gentleman in. question preferred to cancel his 
connection with the association, so- that from “ Semi-Darkness ” 
he drifted t-o total eclipse. R. Cairns. 
Balrudde-ry Gardens, by Dundee, 
January 26tli, 1904. 
Young Gardeners and Watering. 
To the Editor of The Gardening World. 
Sir, —To- -see the way “ Japoni-c-a ” and also Mr. Beckett- have 
written in The Gardening World of late, they would have us 
believe there are no- competent young gardeners in the -profes¬ 
sion 'who take- any interest- whatsoever in watering and plant- 
growing. 
© © * 
I venture to say such has never been my experience with 
young men. Not even a garden boy would water his plants 
in, that careless and slipshod .manner a>s they describe. 
Often have I seen, cases where the- garden is, as it is in the 
majority of places, under-manned; therefore the young men in 
houses -are looked upon, t-o- get. over their work in the- houses 
by the head of the staff, as lie- wants them elsewhere- for prun¬ 
ing, nailing, bedding out, or there is a lot of pot-ting or staking 
waiting to be done. 
The result is-, the young men have either t-o “teem” the 
water into them,-or e-lse let them go altogether ; whereas if thev 
were allowed time t-o- do- their work things would be quite 
different. 
Therefore I consider their re-marks very unjust towards 
young me -11 who, perhaps, are striving and slaving to do theii 
duty under great difficulties. Such was my experience a few 
years ago. “ Japonioa’s ” advice is all very well respecting 
watering, but--one’s own experience is to be preferred, as water¬ 
ing can only be- properly learnt by practice, as when the 
natural habit of any one plant has been found out watering 
becomes an easy matter. Take, for instance, the Arum Lily, 
Spiraeas, Crinum-s, and many others, which, when well ro-oted. 
