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December  24,  i89e.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
this  Japanese  species  of  Holly  It  lias  not  been  seen  before  in  this 
country  with  berries. 
Celery  Decayed. — Mr.  Messenger  of  Woolverstone  Gardens,  Ipswich, 
forwarded  two  large  plants  with  the  interior  leafstalks  much  decayed. 
No  fnngi  had  been  found  in  similar  instances,  and  the  general  belief 
was  that  the  plants  had  been  earthed-np,  and  perhaps  bound  up  too 
early,  so  that  growth  was  hindered,  and  wet  having  penetrated  produced 
the  decay. 
PLUMBAGO  LAllPENTiG. 
This  pretty  border  or  rock  plant  (see  illustration,  fig,  ]  05)  frequently 
comes  into  bud  so  late  that  its  beautiful  violet  blooms  never  open,  and 
great  disappointment  is  often  felt  by  the  grower.  It  will,  I  believe,  be 
found  most  satisfactory  to  plant  this  Plumbago  in  a  warm  corner  of  the 
rock  garden,  where  it  will  have  full  exposure  to  the  sun.  Thus  treated 
it  will  in  ordinary  seasons  bloom  freely,  and  delight  those  who  see  it  ly 
its  violet  flowers  in  close,  terminal  heads.  It  grows  about  1  foot  in 
height,  and  is  said  to  have  been  introduced  from  Shanghai  about  1846 
It  is  hardy,  and  grows  in  sandy  peat  in  my  garden  on  a  rockery  facing 
S.W.  From  a  recent  gardening  work  we  learn  that  the  correct  name  of 
this  plant  is  now  Ceratostigma  plnmbaginoides-a  name  which,  from 
its  cumbrousness,  it  is  almost  safe  to  say  will  never  come  into  general 
use. — A.  ^ 
APPLES. 
Culinary,  v.  Dessert,  or  Both. 
In  view  of  recent  cases  of  alleged  injustice  to  exhibitors  from  the 
confusion  at  present  existing  by  including  some  varieties  of  Apples  in 
both  divisions,  would  it  not  be  well  to  try  for  some  authoritative  decision, 
whereby  the  position  of  these  same  varieties  when  in  competition  with 
others  not  receiving  the  dual  distinction,  might  be  definitely  known  ? 
Take  two  instances.  What,  say,  ought  to  be  position,  in  points,  as 
dessert  of  two  equally  good  dishes  of  Blenheim  Orange  and  Baumann’s 
Red  Winter  Reinette,  or  of  Worcester  Pearmain  and  Emperor  Alexander. 
The  cases  at  present  under  discussion  clearly  show  the  meed  of  something 
being  done  to  clear  up  these  matters, 
Oa  lines  of  “  Bedfordshire  Foundling’s  ”  contention,  the  ruling 
would  upset  some  ideas  in  high  quarters.  A  ease  occurs  in  my  own 
experience  this  season.  At  a  leading  show  I  staged  six  dishes  of  dessert 
Apples,  including  Baumann’s  Red  Winter  Reinette,  and  was  placed  second. 
Discussing  the  exhibit  with  a  friend  afterwards,  who  was  at  the  show, 
I  inquired  why  I  missed  the  first  place.  My  friend  answered,  “Why  did 
you  not  pat  in  a  dish  of  Blenheims  instead  of  Baumann’s  ?  Had  you  done 
so  yon  would  have  been  a  certain  first.”  To  this  I  replied,  “  Because  I 
had  Blenheim  in  a  culinary  collection  on  the  same  table.”  To  which  I 
received  further  reply,  '■  That  was  not  of  slightest  consequence.”  Now 
my  friend  and  the  two  judges  hold  high  positions  in  the  horticultural 
world. 
It  appears  to  me  if  a  Committee  of  the  R.H.S.  could  take  these 
varieties  and  give  to  each  a  standard  number  of  points  in  each  division 
we  should  have  some  idea  as  to  including  or  excluding  from  our  collec¬ 
tions  when  setting  up  for  exhibition,  while  it  would  be  impossible  for 
anything  of  the  same  nature  as  the  York  incident  to  re-occur. — 
Robt.  Grindrod. 
[Our  correspondent  suggests  the  lines  on  which  we  should  (as 
indicated  oa  page  591)  have  acted  in  judging  Mr.  Riddell’s  Apples  at 
York,  in  the  absence  of  any  definite  stipulations  in  the  schedule.  On 
such  lines  wp  have  judged  dozens  of  collections  without  any  protests 
following.  The  two  judges  referred  to  by  Mr.  Grindrod,  and  whose 
names  he  privately  communicates,  stand  as  high  both  as  cultivators, 
exhibitors,  and  judges  of  fruit  as  any  gardeners  in  the  kingdom.  It  is 
^  not  suggested  for  a  moment  that  they  are  better  gardeners  than  the 
York  judges,  because  such  would  be  hard  to  find,  and  equally  difficult 
would  it  be  to  find  more  upright  and  honourable  men.  The  divergeice 
of  opinion  among  competent  judges  of  fruit  points  to  the  desirability 
of  definite  lines  of  guidance  being  formulated  by  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society  ] 
Judging  at  the  York  Show. 
I  WAS  glad  to  observe  that  the  interested  parties  in  the  above 
dispute  have  decided  upon  having  their  differences  referred  to  arbitration, 
this  proving  another  triumph  for  the  principles  of  the  Peace  Society. 
I  have  no  desire  to  anticipate  the  verdict,  but  I  do  think  Mr,  Lawton 
is  unfortunate  in  his  selection  of  Mr.  Herrin  as  a  champion  for  his 
contention  that  the  Apple  Emperor  Alexander  is  fit  for  culinary 
purposes  only.  Mr.  Herrin  goes  as  far  as  to  say  (page  659)  that  the 
R.H.S.  '‘has  already  virtually  decided”  the  question,  and  bases  his 
argument  upon  the  schedule  of  the  Great  Exhibition  of  British-grown 
Fruit,  held  last  autumn  in  the  Crystal  Palace.  He  finds  therein 
Emperor  Alexander  placed  as  a  cooking  variety,  therefore  cannot  be 
exhibited  in  the  classes  set  apart  for  dessert  kinds. 
If  Mr.  Herrin  will  take  the  trouble  to  look  a  little  further  into  the 
same  pchedule,  he  will  find  the  excellent  culinary  variety  Baumann’s 
Red  Winter  Reinette  classed  as  a  dessert  Apple,  and  cannot,  be  staged  as 
acocker.  He  will  also  find  Blenheim  Orange  classed  as  a  cooking  variety, 
aud  certainly  cannot  be  exhibited  in  the  dessert  classes.  But  all  this  has 
little  to  do  with  the  case  at  issue,  except  for  hia  contention  of  the  .Judges 
acting  rightly  in  disqualifying  Mr.  Riddell’s  collection  because  it  con¬ 
tained  a  dish  of  the  Emperor  Alexander.  If  this  argument  is  to  hold 
gold,  then  Messrs.  Clayton  and  Lawton  acted  wrongly  in  awarding  first 
and  second  prizes  to  collections  that  contained  dishes  of  Blenheim 
Orange.  If  Mr.  Henin  had  been  judge,  it  appears  as  if  the  whole  seven 
or  eight  collections  that  formed  the  competition  would  have  been  dis- 
qualified  on  account  of  this  Apple  question.  I  wonder  what  good  could 
have  accrued  from  such  high  banded-procedure — J.  Mc  NDOE. 
Let  me  say,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Lawton,  that  select  and  special  lists  of  dessert 
Apples  have  no  bearing  on  the  disqualification  of  a  collection  of  dessert 
fruits  for  containing  a  dish  of  E  mperor  Alexander  Apple.  So  long  as  it  is 
included  in  general  lists,  such  as  that  of  Messrs.  Veitch,  Bunyard,  Dick¬ 
sons,  Pearson,  Clibran,  and  others,  as  eligible  for  dessert,  and  commended 
by  high  authorities  as  desirable  for  that  purpose,  there  cannot  be  a 
shadow  of  reason  tor  disqualifying  it,  or  any  exhibit  containing  it,  out¬ 
side  a  prohibitive  rule  to  that  effect.  The  York  schedule  contains  no 
such  prohibitive  rule,  and  therefore  the  judges  went  outside  their  pro- 
viuCd  in  consenting  to  the  word  ”  disqualified  ”  being  placed  on  the 
FIG  105.  PLUfilBAGO  LAliPENTiE. 
exhibit.  Mr.  Lawton  blames  me  for  crediting  him  with  egotism.  I 
will  then  only  say  that  he  puts  a  higher  estimate  on  his  own  abilities  as 
a  pomologist  than  those  of  Messrs.  Meindoe  and  Divers.  He  also  refers 
to  the  select  lists  of  dessert  Apples  in  the  “  Fruit  Growers’  Guide,”  and 
reads  aloud  from  an  obsolete  copy  of  the  ”  Fruit  Manual,”  neither  of 
which  bears  directly  on  the  question  at  issue. 
Mr.  Clayton  makes  reference  in  both  of  his  notes  that  he  ”  did  not 
know  whose  fruit  they  had  been  judging.”  That  is  not  the  point  at 
issue.  The  question  to  be  decided  is  the  action  of  the  Judges  in  dis¬ 
qualifying  an  exhibit  of  dessert  fruits  for  having  a  dish  of  Emperor 
Alexander  .4.pple  in  it.  Seeing  that  the  Judges  were  the  servants  of  the 
Society,  it  rests  with  the  Society  to  take  up  the  matter.  Now  that  it  is 
prepared  to  allow  the  case  to  be  referred  to  the  R.H.S.,  let  the  Society 
obtain  statements  from  each  of  the  Judges  showing  what  influenced 
them  in  their  action,  and  also  kindly  let  me  know  that  this  is  being 
done,  so  that  I  may  do  likewise. — J.  Riddell. 
[In  view”  of  the  holiday  season  cur  pages  bad  to  be  made  up  on 
Tuesday,  and  consequently  a  communication  from  Mr.  G.  Bunyard 
(Maidstone),  and  Mr.  R.  M.  MTntosh,  on  behalf  of  the  York  Florists’ 
Society,  arriving  on  Tuesday  were  tO'O  'ate  for  insertion.  The  Society, 
having  paid  the  extra  prize  that  was  awarded — equal  to  the  second — 
and  this  having  been  accepted,  decline  lo  submit  the  matter  to  arbitra¬ 
tion,  but  the  Committee  will  supply  the  fee  if  the  Judges  like  to  have 
the  matter  submitted  to  the  R.H.S.] 
The  Classification  of  Apples  and  Bears. 
This  subject  has  been  well  threshed  out  in  the  columns  of  the 
Journal,  It  now  remains  for  the  Council  of  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society,  if  fully  alive  to  their  responsibilities,  to  take  some  action  that 
may  be  regarded  generally  as  authoritative  and  satisfactory.  It  is 
obvious  that  quoting  such  authorities  as  the  “  Fruit  Manual,”  trade 
