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JOURNAL  OP  HORTICULTURE  ANT)  COTTAGE  CARUENER. 
March  10,  1898. 
(CHARACTER  UNDER  CANVAS. 
1. — Unjudicial  Judges. 
If  the  Prime  Minister  of  Great  Britain  ever  has  glimpses  of  his  personal 
greatness,  they  must  fade  when  he  visits  a  horticultural  exhibition  and 
finds  his  ineffectual  fire  paling  under  the  glowing  radiance  of  the  unjudicial 
judge.  It  is  true  the  statesman  has  the  power  of  shaping  the  destinies  of 
the  world  ;  he  can  control  the  movements  of  the  most  powerful  fleet  that 
ever  sailed  the  seas  ;  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand  lies  the  fate  of  million.;  of 
human  heings  ;  hut— he  cannot  judge  a  brace  of  Cucumbers.  Therefore 
the  unjudicial  judge  looks  down  on  him  with  delightful  contempt,  and 
relegates  him  to  his  proper  place  in  the  life  of  the  nation. 
It  is  given  to  mo-t  of  us  to  have  brief  periods  of  ecstatic  happiness. 
They  are  rare,  they  are  fleeting,  but  they  exist.  Who  seizes  upon  them 
so  eagerly  and  extracts  the  last  particle  out  of  them  so  resolutely  as  the 
unjudicial  judge  ?  His  days  of  pure  delight  are  those  on  which  he  finds 
himself  chosen,  in  preference  to  his  rival  over  at  the  Grange,  to  judge  at 
the  summer  show.  Owing  to  a  disappointment,  a  certain  committee  once 
found  itself  under  the  necessity  of  finding  a  judge  at  eighteen  hours’ 
notice.  The  secretary  formed  himself  into  a  deputation,  and  visited  a 
neighbouring  gardener.  The  latter  did  not  allow  any  false  pride  at  being 
only  chosen  in  an  emergency  to  stand  in  the  way  of  an  eager  acceptance. 
He  took  the  schedule,  marked  his  instructions,  and  showed  the  secretary 
over  the  flower  garden.  “Are  you  showing  in  the  six  Asters  ?”  asked 
the  newly  appointed  judge.  “  lAs.”  responded  the  secretary.  Silently, 
but  with  a  noble  determination,  the  judge  snipped  off  half  a  dozen  of  his 
best  blooms.  “Take ’em  in  your  ’at,”  he  whispered  in  tones  of  devoted 
friendship. 
There  are  special  moments  when  the  unjudicial  judge  shines  at  his 
brightest.  Take,  for  instance,  his  bearing  when,  after  his  duties  are  done 
and  a  substantial  lunch  has  been  disposed  of.  he  saunters,  much  badged, 
into  the  show  and  surveys  the  scene  of  his  labours  with  unctuous  pride 
There  swoops  down  upon  him  an  irritated  exhibitor,  who  demands  to 
know  why  a  certain  decision  has  been  made.  Is  the  unjudicial  judge 
taken  aback  ?  Perhaps  for  a  short  space  his  confident  bearing  shows 
traces  of  a  shock  ;  but  with  a  presence  of  mind  w'orthy  of  the  highest 
praise,  he  recovers  himself,  eyes  the  angry  critic  with  calm  benignity,  and 
says,  “’T’was  my  partners  ;  I  didn’t  want  ’em  to  do  it,  but  they  was  two 
to  one  !  ”  After  a  fairly  lengthy  experience  of  exhibitions,  I  have  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  greatest  monument  of  incompetence  this  earth 
can  boast  is  the  mysterious  “  partner  ”  of  the  unjudicial  judge. 
It  is  with  a  proper  sense  of  humility  that  I  speak  of  one  particular 
occasion  when  I  myself  had  been  (he  erring  “partner.”  The  judging 
was  done,  the  lunch  was  over,  and  I,  book  in  pocket,  retired  to  the  shady 
side  of  a  tent  to  pass  the  time  before  the  prize-giving.  The  clatter  of 
glasses,  not  less  than  the  loquacious  run  of  tongue,  betrayed  that  it  was 
the  refreshment  tent.  While  wrestling  with  a  Meredithian  epigram  there 
fell  upon  my  ear  the  voices  of  the  judge  with  whom  I  had  been  associated 
and  a  stranger  in  a  duologue  that  began  fiercely  and  ended  like  the  cooing 
of  a  dove. 
“You  a  jedge  !  ”  (this  with  ineffable  contempt)  “reckon  you  don’t 
know  a  marra  from  a  squash.” 
“  Twas’n  me,  you  fule,  ’t’was  my  partner.” 
There  was  a  short  but  eloquent  pause,  during  which  a  guilty  sense  of 
wrong-doing  made  short  work  of  my  mental  peace,  and  then,  in  reply  to 
another  remark  which  I  could  not  catch,  the  unjudicial  judge  said,  in  soft 
tones  of  amity,  “Well,  I  doan’t  mind  if  I  di  ;  one  hit  of  sugar  and  no 
lemon.” 
The  cheerful  magnanimity  with  which  the  unjudicial  judge  throws  his 
partner  to  the  wolves  is  not  more  impressive  than  the  air  of  terrific 
superiority  with  which  some  members  of  the  genus  listen  to  the  remarks 
of  their  fellow  judge.s,  and  afterwards  give  the  criticisms  off  as  their  own. 
Men  of  this  stamp  are  known  who.  when  invited  to  give  an  opinion  as  to 
the  merit  of  an  exhibit,  w’ander  off  int  i  particulars  of  domestic  history, 
giving  details  of  what  they  have  at  home,  but  “not  allowed  to  show,  you 
know,”  and  other  interesting  information,  all  the  while  evading  the  point 
at  issue.  These  gentlemen  are  invariably  to  be  observed  later  in  the  day 
enlarging  on  the  exhibits  in  loud  and  argumentative  tones.  There  are 
plenty  of  persons  who  have  never  been  known  to  give  an  opinion,  or  to 
make  an  independent  decision,  while  the  judicial  work  is  going  on, 
who  are  in  universal  demand  as  judges,  solely  from  their  copious  and 
profound  expression  of  other  people’s  opinions  wh^n  the  duties  of  the  day 
are  done. 
Fierce  assertions  of  unswerving  rectitude  arc  not  uncommon  on  the 
part  of  the  unjudicial  judge.  It  is  true  that  there  is  usually  no  particular 
reason  why  they  should  be  made,  inasmuch  as  no  charge  of  partiality  is 
circulated.  But  this  species  is  so  full  of  the  responsibilities  of  his  position, 
that  he  runs  over  and  emphasises  every  award  with  assurances  that  he  is 
not  to  be  got  over.  “No  use  a  trying  that  with  me,”  and  so  on.  It  was 
with  a  judge  of  this  tremendous  integrity  that  I  once  became  involved  in 
a  tedious  argument  about  a  bunch  of  white  Turnips.  Those  which  he 
wanted  to  put  first,  1  wanted  to  put  third.  After  .striving  unavailingly  to 
get  me  to  agree  wiih  him,  the  unjudicial  judge  drew  me  aside,  with  an  air 
of  touching  reproach,  and  said  in  my  oar,  “Look  here,  now  ;  if  you’d  eot 
a  boy  Sammy - 
I  stared  in  amazement.  “  A  wha — at  ?  ” 
“  You  haven’t,  eh  !  But  I  have.  Do  you  see  ?  ” 
Gently',  insinuatingly,  the  righteous  judge  scribbled  “first”  on 
Sammy  ’s  card,  and  led  me  away. — W.  Pea. 
Pruning  Boses. 
Although  such  a  very  mild  season,  I  do  not  think  our  Boses 
more  forward  than  usual,  and  certainly  would  not  prune  earlier  than 
after  winters  of  ordinary  severity.  It  is  not  early  growth  which  we 
want  upon  Boses,  but  breaks  from  healthy  eyes,  and  these  made 
sufficiently  late  to  insure  a  greater  chance  of  quick  growth,  unchecked 
by  the  late  spring  frosts  which  so  often  ruin  early  and  promising  new 
wood 
With  a  view  to  making  the  present  article  upon  this  important  part  of 
Bose  culture  more  plain  and  simple,  I  have  taken  a  few  rough  sketches  of 
types  of  plants  growing  in  my'  garden,  and  which  I  shall  prune  upon  the 
lines  indicated  in  the  illustrations.  It  does  not  matter  whether  it  be 
Hybrid  Perpetuals,  Teas,  Hybrid  Teas,  or  any  of  the  other  classe.-,  our 
Boses  of  similar  growth  to  those  described  need  much  the  same 
treatment. 
Fig.  44  represents  a  two-year  old  plant  of  a  Tea  Bose  of  an  erect 
growing  variety,  which  flowers  freely  from  almost  every  shoot,  and 
which  may  be  chosen  as  a  type  of  such  as  Anna  Olivier,  Catherine 
Mermet,  Madame  Lambard,  and  others  of  the  similar  habit.  The  shoots 
from  the  base,  marked  u,  h,  andc,  are  soft  and  pithy,  although  they  carried 
good  blooms  late  in  the  season.  From  6  to  12  inches  from  the  base  of 
these  there  is  a  sound  eye  or  bud,  and  the  wood  will  be  cut  back  to  this 
point.  The  remainder  of  the  growth  will  be  cut  back,  as  shown  by  the 
cross  marks.  Most  of  the  wood  above  these  marks  is  inclined  to  be  soft, 
and  will,  under  any  circumstances,  be  cut  back  to  a  sound  and  well- 
ripenjd  eye. 
Unless  we  prune  this  class  of  Bose  rather  hard  we  get  a  succession  of 
new  growths  from  the  top  eye,  which,  on  account  of  the  erect  habit,  soon 
make  a  thin  and  pyramidal  plant,  instead  of  the  desired  bush  of  more 
compact  form.  We  have  much  the  same  habit  in  Merveille  de  Lyon  and 
Baroness  Bothschild  from  among  the  Hybrid  Perpetuals,  although  moii 
robust.  These  varieties  very  seldom  carry  soft  and  unripened  wood,  b-  , 
