80 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



Should the visitor seek information as to where on this vast con- 

 tinent he can find the best climate and soil for the finest fruits, he will 

 naturally visit the Horticultural building. He will find it large — the 

 main building 998x250 feet, with 8 greenhouses 100x24 feet, built of 

 iron, covered with glass, of beautiful architectural design, the interior 

 having " magnificent distancef," and the whole noble, lofty, light and 

 airy, an elegant palace for the finest and best of nature's most beautiful 

 and most luscious of products. He will ramble through these lengthy 

 aisles first cursorily, noting only what is on exhibition. By that time 

 he will wish to examine critically, to see thoroughly, and compare judi- 

 ciously. He will have noted the signs arching the several exhibits and 

 seen many well-known names — names of states thousands of miles 

 apart, as varied in their climate as in their topography ; the products 

 of the antipodes, of Europe, of South America and of many of the 

 islands of the ocean. He finally reaches that wing of the great struc- 

 ture limited to fruits, to find Florida exhibiting the pineapple, cocoanuty 

 orange, lemon and pother citrus fruits ; and California showing the 

 same, with the addition of dried, canned and otherwise preserved 

 prunes, oranges, grapes, in almost unlimited quantities. He will find 

 also magnificent fruits from other Pacific states, and then, wending his 

 way, will find them from Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Montana, Kansas, 

 Missouri, Iowa,'and all the way east to the New York and l^ew England 

 Coast. 



Which has the finest show of fruits "^ the reader asks ; and mod- 

 esty prompts the answer, let the committee of final awards determine. 

 But then he wishes to have our judgment and the reasons therefor^ 

 and we give it cheerfully, and as honestly as heartily. If he stop 

 under the telling sign, Missouri, and make a thorough and exhaustive 

 examination, he will find there a very large and very fine display of 

 apples, pears, plums, peaches, cherries, all kinds of berries, cabbage, 

 squash, sweet potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, parsnips, carrots, canta- 

 loupes, egg-plant, sweet corn and other products of this glorious State, 

 this magnificent soil and incomparable climate ; he will find the exhibit 

 the largest in the building, the fruit of the finest and most luscious, 

 adapted to use the year round, and to transportation to all the mar- 

 kets of the world. These are all preserved in glass jars, in fluid, and 

 though the natural color is not wholly preserved the form and size are, 

 and the color too, in a measure. They convey to the beholder a clear 

 and comprehensive idea of the fruit and vegetable products of the 

 State, and afford the visitor an opportunity of comparing them in size 

 and apparent quality with the exhibits from other states and territo- 



