October  29,  1903. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
403 
Hints  to  Secretaries  of  Shows. 
I  do  not  intend  tliese  notes  to  apply  to  secretaries  of  experi¬ 
ence,  but  to  those  who  may  be  undertaking  this  office  for  the  first 
time.  No  doubt  there  are  many  such,  and  they  may  find  a  hint 
or  two,  collected  from  experience,  of  some  value  in  guiding  tliem 
in  their  duties. 
Small  details  are  at  times  overlooked,  and  these  all  add  to  the 
smooth  working  of  a  .society  for  success  or  the  reverse.  One  fault 
with  secrotarie.s — a  common  one — is  that  of  being  too  easy  with 
exhibitors,  Instead  of  making  it  a  rule  to  clear  the  room  at  a 
stated  time,  they  are  far  too  lax  in  this  respect.  It  is  a  good 
plan  to  ring  a  bell,  say,  ten  minutes  before  the  appointed  time, 
as  a  warning  to  exhibitors,  and  again  punctually  at  the  time 
stated  in  the  .schedule.  Judges  have  then  ample  time  to  make 
their  awards,  and  the  clerical  staff  have  also  opportunity  to  get 
awards  placed  ready  by  the  time  the  visitors  are  admitted.  I 
have  acted  at  shows  where  the  awards  were  not  on  the  exhibits 
before  four  o’clock,  a  state  of  management  very  annoying  to 
visitors.  If  some  of  these  lax  secretaries  would  pay  a  visit  to 
the  Hull  Show,  for  examplOj  and  see  one  of  the  honorary  .secre¬ 
taries  (Mr.  Dixon)  standing  in  front  of  the  clock  in  the  hall,  two 
minutes  before  ten,  with  bell  in  hand  ready  to  give  the  warning 
to  clear  the  room,  whether  exhibitors  are  ready  or  not,  they  would 
return  impressed  with  the  result  of  punctuality. 
Space  should  be  marked  out  for  all  clas.ses  in  plain  letters. 
As  some  exhibitors  do  not  appear  to  understand  the  class  number 
only,  it  is  a  good  plan  to  write  on  cards  distinctly  what  the  class 
is.  For  instance,  “Class  12,  twelve  Japanese  blooms.”  In  this 
way  an  exhibitor  can  place  his  exhibits  in  position  without  worry¬ 
Combating 
Apple  5cab. 
A  bed  of  St. 
See  “  . 
Experimental 
spraying  opera¬ 
tions  carried  on 
in  orchards  in 
Ottawa,  furnish 
excellent  illu.strations  of  the  necessity  of  .spraying.  In  every 
case  where  a  single  tree  or  part  of  a  tree  in  one  of  the  sprayed 
orchards  was  neglected  the  fruit  on  such  tree  or  part  of  tree  is 
to-day  hardly  worth  the  trouble  of  picking,  while  on  all  sprayed 
portions  .'^cab  is  hardly  to  be  found. 
Joseph  Strawberries,  Sept.  25th. 
lutumnal  Sti'nioberries,”  opposite. 
ing  the  secretary  or  other  officials.  Some  exhibitors  make  a 
practice  of  entering  in  more  classes  than  they  know  they  can 
fill  properly,  in  the  hope  the  entries  may  be  small,  or  the  exhibits 
poor,  then  they  can  snatch  an  extra  prize  or  two.  It  is  very 
annoying  to  secretaries  to  find  empty  spaces,  and  especially  from 
fruit.  Mrs.  Pinae  finds  a  home  among  the  Muscats,  and  does  ! 
remarkably  well.  Mr.'  Leslie  believes  in  giving  his  Vines 
generous  treatment,  otherwi.se  he  could  not  cut  year  after  year 
such  heavy  crops  of  first-class  Grapes.  Although  a  total 
abstainer  himself,  he  supplies  his  Vines  liberally  with  something 
stronger  than  water  from  the  well.  Regarding  pruning,  the 
gardener  makes  no  attemi^t  to  have  beautiful  spurs,  but  rather 
the  opposite,  the  rods  in  winter  presenting  a  rather  “rustic” 
appearance.  A  thorough Iv  developed,  well  ripened  bud  is  what 
is  sought  for,  and  the  lateral  is  cut  to  this,  the  result  being 
as  we  have  indicated — first-class  Grapes.  For  a  long  period  of 
years  Mr.  Leslie  has  been  a  successful  exhibitor  of  Grapes  at 
Edinbiirgh,  Glasgow,  Dundee,  and  Perth,  and  we  trust  he  may 
still  long  be  spared  to  grow  and  show  as  successfully  as  he  has 
done  in  the  past. — Albyn. 
The  New  Melon,  “Fiscal  Problem.” 
In  making  a  call  at  Bear  Wood  Gardens  recently  to  see  the 
Chrysanthemums,  I  had  an  opportunity  of  viewing  the  new 
Melon  that  was  granted  an  award  of  merit  on  October  13  at 
the  Drill  Hall,  under  the  name  of  “  Fiscal  Problem.”  On  a  shelf 
in  one  of  the  houses — there  are  half-a-dozen  here — lay  dozen 
fruits,  and  every  fruit  such  as  one  expects  to  see  in  August, 
rather  than  the  last  week  in  October.  I  afterwards  saw  about 
two  dozen  more  growing  on  the  plant,s.  The  fruit  is  nearly  round, 
strongly  but  not  finely  netted,  and  the  habit  of  the  plants  was 
all  that  could  be  desired.  Mr.  Barnes  kindly  cut  one  of  the 
fruits  for  me  to  taste,  and  I  found  the  flavour  excellent.  It  is, 
I  believe,  the  result  of  a  cross  between  Eureka  and  a  seedling, 
with  the  flavour  of  the  former,  which,  when  well  grown,  is  known 
as  one  of  the  finest  flavoured  Melons  in  cultivation.  I^carae  to 
the  same  conclusion  as  the  judges  at  the  Drill  Hall — that  this  is 
a  very  fine  Melon  with  a  very  bad  name,  which  name  I  was  given 
to  understand  was  not  unlikely  to  be  altered. — T.  Cole,  Swallow- 
field  Park  Gardens,  nr.  Reading. 
The  Merits  of  Grapes. 
With  much  of  what  “  Expert  ”  (page  378)  writes  about  the 
different  varieties  of  Grapes  one  cannot  fail  to  agree.  When, 
however,  he  informs  us  that  West’s  St.  Peter’s  is  of  no  uso 
w  here  appear¬ 
ance  at  table  is 
the  chief  merit 
in  a  Grape,  I 
trust  he  will  ex¬ 
cuse  me  if  I  take 
exception  to  such 
an  overwhelming 
dictum.  My  ex¬ 
perience  of  this 
variety  when  at 
its  best,  leads 
me  to  directly 
contradict  “  Ex¬ 
pert,”  and  to 
say  that  when 
well  cultivated 
it  is  a  really  fine 
table  Grape.  I 
know  quite  well 
that  it  is  fre¬ 
quently  poor  in 
a  ppea ranee, 
small  in  berry, 
and  loose  and 
straggling  in  the 
bunch  ;  but  that 
it  can  he  pro¬ 
duced  of  noble 
appearance,  as 
well  as  of  good 
(juality,  many 
growers  a  r  e 
aware  besides — 
Trewex. 
