140 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
February  17,  1898. 
They  have  nothing  to  gain  beyond  the  awards,  and  hence  merit 
encouragement.  But,  at  the  same  time,  I  say  emphatically  that 
every  Fellow  of  the  Society  who  visits  the  Drill  Hall,  ought  to  be 
most  thankful  to  members  of  the  horticultural  trade  for  their 
splendid  liberality  in  making  the  meetings  so  interesting  and 
instructive. 
Now  I  suggest  that  no  medal  awards  whatever  be  made  to  trade 
exhibits  at  any  Drill  Hall  meeting ;  but  seeing  that  many  members 
of  the  trade  exhibit  repeatedly,  that  at  each  meeting  the  sub-Com- 
mittees  making  awards  be  authorised  ^to  give  to  each  ti'ade  exhibitor 
so  many  marks  or  points  apportioned  to  the  merits  of  the  respective 
exhibits,  and  that  at  the  end  of  the  year  the  Council  award  to  the  trader 
having  the  highest  number  a  gold  medal,  providing  also  silver-gilt,  or 
silver  medals,  in  value  relative  to  the  number  of  points  obtained  for 
the  year.  No  trader  should  be  awarded  the  gold  medal  more  often 
than  once  in  five  years,  as  that  would  give  others  a  chance  to  win  it 
also.  With  severe  limitations  placed  at  each  meeting  upon  the  space 
allotted  to  each  trader,  and  upon  the  number  of  marks  granted  in  each 
case,  I  submit  that  the  result  would  be  to  secure  in  really  competitive 
form  a  remarkable  series  of  trade  exhibits  all  through  the  year,  which 
would  serve  to  maintain  the  meetings  in  a  high  state  of  excellence.  I 
can  conceive  of  no  other  satisfactory  way  of  reducing  the  number  of 
medal  awards ;  and  as  to  abolishing  them  absolutely,  I  think  that  is 
an  insane  idea.  With  respect  to  certificate  of  merit  awards,  I  still  hold 
that  no  better  or  more  practical  proposal  in  the  direction  of  reducing 
these  has  been  yet  made  than  mine,  that  none  should  be  granted 
except  by  a  majority  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  present. — A.  D. 
[We  are  not  in  the  least  surprised  that  the  Council  should  view 
with  some  apprehension  the  generosity  of  the  Committees  in  awarding 
medals  and  other  high  honours  at  the  Drill  Hall  meetings.  Last 
year  it  would  seem  that  more  than  400  medals  were  granted — namely, 
by  the  Floral  Committee  264,  the  Orchid  Committee  83,  and  the 
Fruit  Committee  64.  Did  some  of  the  members  of  the  Council 
think  that  by  a  mixed  medal  committee  of  plantsmen  and  fruitmen 
one  would  act  as  a  check  on  the  other  ?  If  so,  why  stipulate  for 
twice  the  number  of  floral  over  the  fruit  experts,  whereas  these  latter 
recommended  the  smallest  number  of  medals  ?  Moreover,  the  members 
of  the  Fruit  Committee  showed  in  the  most  practical  way  possible 
their  willingness  to  meet  the  reasonable  desire  of  the  Council  by 
supporting  a  proposal  that  high  honours  shall  only  be  granted  by 
a  two-thirds  majority  vote.  This  certainly  would  have  led  to  a 
diminution. 
The  proposal  was  not  accepted,  but  in  lieu  of  it  an  instruction  was 
issued  for  the  formation  of  a  committee  of  nine,  one-third  of  this 
number  from  the  Fruit,  two- thirds  from  the  Orchid  and  Floral 
Committees,  the  nine  members  to  go  jostling  against  each  other 
through  all  the  departments  for  recommending  medals,  some  of  them 
knowing  very  little  about  Orchids,  others  little  about  Iruit,  and 
perhaps  half  of  them  not  being  up-to-date  with  florists’  and  other 
flowers  and  plants,  yet  all  the  votes  having  equal  weight ! 
The  scheme  could  never  have  been  fully  considered  by  the  Council. 
It  involves  a  breach  of  the  principle  that  has  been  peculiar  to  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society  since  the  Committees  were  established — 
namely,  that  the  honours  awarded  are  determined  by  experts  in  each 
section,  and  it  is  this  which  has  invested  them  with  a  weight  far 
exceeding  that  of  any  honours  which  may  bear  the  same  name 
granted  by  any  other  society  in  the  kingdom,  and,  perhaps,  out  of  it. 
The  principle  in  question  is  a  cardinal  and  distinguishing  feature  of 
the  R.H.S.,  which  it  is  hoped  will  be  maintained  in  its  integrity. 
There  can  be  no  sounder  line  of  action  than  that  each  Committee  shall 
be  responsible  for  its  own  decisions  in  its  own  special  department, 
and  a  mixing  of  the  three  would  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case  be  a 
weakening  of  all. 
As  to  the  examination  of  exhibits  not  placed  on  the  Committee 
tables,  but  arranged  in  the  body  of  the  hall  for  display,  it  has  been 
the  custom  for  all  the  members  of  the  Fruit  Committee  present  to 
go  round  the  hall  in  a  sort  of  crush  and  scramble  for  examining  the 
collections.  Thoughtful  inspection,  careful  comparison,  and  quiet  1 
discussion  on  the  merits  and  demerits  of  the  produce  is  practically 
impossible  under  such  conditions.  Far  better  would  it  be  to  delegate 
three  members  from  the  Committee  who  rarely  if  ever  exhibit,  such  as 
Messrs.  Bates,  Barron,  Smith  and  others  who  have  also  had  much 
experience  in  judging ;  let  them  have  ample  time  for  examination 
(just  as  in  the  case  of  judging  the  dessert  fruit  for  the  Veitch  prizes), 
and  the  work  would  be  well  done.  All  persons  who  have  had  much 
experience  in  adjudication  at  shows  know  quite  well  that  the  greater 
the  number  of  judges  above  three  the  greater  the  liability  to  confusion 
and  mistakes.  The  plan  of  having  an  assemblage  of  all  the  judges 
at  provincial  shows  to  determine  the  prizes  in  certain  important 
classes  has  been  tried,  found  wanting,  and  almost,  if  not  quite,  in 
every  case  discontinued. 
The  principle  suggested  by  “  A.  D.”  for  the  determining  of  medals 
is  exactly  that  which  is  adopted  by  the  National  Amateur  Gardeners 
Society  and  many  other  associations  which  hold  periodical  meetings, 
and  it  answers  admirably,  the  cumulated  marks  determining  the  prizes  at 
the  end  of  the  season.  It  is  followed  also  at  great  provincial  shows 
where  medals  are  provided  for  meritorious  non-competitive  exhibits, 
only  in  these  cases  the  prizes  are  determined  at  once,  according  to  the 
number  of  marks  the  judges  have  recorded  for  the  various  exhibits. 
In  no  other  way  could  the  work  be  done  so  well.  A  very  high  number 
of  marks  indeed  carries  a  gold  medal ;  a  reduced,  though  still  high 
number,  a  silver-gilt ;  lesser,  yet  meritorious  marks,  silver  medals,  and 
so  on.  Awards  which  are  based  on  carefully  considered  lines,  and 
represented  in  figures,  invariably  give  the  greatest  amount  of  satisfac¬ 
tion  to  all  concerned — show  authorities  and  exhibitors.! 
EED  SPIDER  IN  VINERIES. 
It  may  be  affirmed  that  in  the  whole  routine  of  Grape  growing, 
in  certain  localities  at  least,  more  worry,  trouble,  and  injury  arise 
from  the  inroads  of  red  spider  than  from  any  other  single  source  that 
can  be  named.  Many  have  been  the  preventives  and  remedies 
which  have  been  recommended  and  tried  to  combat  the  evil.  In  many 
cases  the  “  cures  have  proved  worse  than  the  disease,”  at  least  they 
have  not  only  been  ineffectual  but  nearly  as  injurious  as  the 
pertinacious  little  pest.  No  wonder  that  a  friend  on  being  once  asked 
how  his  Vines  were  doing,  exclaimed  that  he  was  “  sair  hadden  doon 
we  reed  speeder  !  ” 
It  is  the  practice  of  many  persons  in  order  to  prevent  and  combat 
the  pest  to  regularly  syringe  the  Vines  with  as  clear  water  as  can  be 
had  up  to  the  time  the  Grapes  begin  colouring.  The  objection  against 
this  is  that  in  numbers  of  cases  the  water  leaves  some  deitosit  behind 
it,  so  that  if  it  do  accomplish  the  end  in  view  it  disfigures  the  berries, 
and  no  gardener  or  his  employer  likes  that ;  nor  does  it  always 
effectually  accomplish  the  end  in  view — it  simply  displaces  without 
killing  the  enemy,  which  seems  cunning  enough  to  get  on  to  the  upper 
surface  of  the  leaves,  and  there  it  may  laugh  at  the  syringing. 
Another,  to  me,  objectionable  evil  attending  syringing  is  that  it 
drives  the  leaves  out  of  their  natural  attitude,  and  the  weight  of  water 
causes  their  footstalks  to  bend.  Then  unless  the  houses  are  carefully 
ventilated  there  is  a  danger  of  chilling  the  leaves — generally  termed 
scahling — by  rapid  evaporation  of  moisture  from  their  surfaces  in  a 
bright  morning.  Sprinkling  surfaces  with  sulphate  of  ammonia  is 
sometimes  resorted  to,  but  it  is  a  ticklish  process,  and  is  seldom  satis¬ 
factory.  Various  other  remedies  have  been  applied,  such  as  sulphur 
mixed  with  hot  lime,  or  painting  the  pipes  with  a  mixture  of  sulphur  and 
lime  or  soot  of  the  consistency  of  paint.  I  cannot  say  that  I  ever  saw 
any  of  them  prove  completely  effectual,  and  for  many  years  have  not 
resorted  to  any  of  these  appliances. 
What  I  have  found  completely  effectual,  after  having  found  out 
that  there  are  two  sorts  of  sulphur  in  commerce,  is  the  application  of 
one  of  these  to  the  hot-water  pipes,  and  applying  extra  fire  heat  for 
eight  or  ten  nights  consecutively.  I  do  not  think  it  is  generally 
known  by  gardeners  that  there  are  these  two  sorts  of  sulphur.  The 
one  is  flaky,  something  like  fine  powdery  snow ;  the  other  like  ashes, 
though  much  finer.  The  latter  is  the  effectual  kind,  and  is  known  as 
Sicilian  or  sublimated  sulphur,  which  is  used  by  manufacturers  of 
tweeds  and  other  woollen  fabrics,  and  which  drysalters  generally 
supply.  This  was  not  applied  in  the  usual  way.  The  pipes  were 
moistened,  and  so  much  dry  sulphur  put  on  them  as  could  be  got  to 
rest  on  their  upper  part.  Extra  fire  heat  was  then  afforded  as 
mentioned  already,  till  on  entering  the  vineries  at  night  strong  fumes 
of  sulphur  were  lelt.  When  the  heat  was  rushed  up  to  the  desired 
amount  it  was  then  moderated,  and  in  the  morning  either  checked  as 
much  as  possible,  or  the  fire  drawn  off  as  circumstances  called  for. 
