THE SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 383 



SHALL WE LOOK TO (QUALITY? 



Tlie tendency of awarding committees is to give premiums for good looks or 

 great size, and tiic people are not so much to blame after all for showing great 

 cabbages, P(|uashcs ; in truth, vegetables and fruits of all kinds at the fairs. 

 They get premiums on size and color, and premiums are what most exhibitors 

 come to fairs for. 



But are we doing right in stimulating this tendency rather than awakening a 

 desire to look at the ([uality of productions. A. B. Gulley, of the Agricultural 

 College, in commenting on vegetables shown in such profusion at tlie fair, 

 said: "It is a grand show from the soil, but for my own use, I don't want 

 any of it. The big things of the garden are always the most insipid, and in 

 keeping qualities, always inferior." 



It would be well for us to take some measures for getting at the comparative 

 worth of large and medium sized productions before awarding a prize, thus 

 leading popular o])inion toward a consideration of quality. 



At the State Fair one collection of apples was commented upon by everyone 

 passing as being the most beautiful upon exhibition. The collection only took 

 the third prize, because the awarding committee insisted upon giving a premium 

 upon quality. This committee was censured, but they knew they were right 

 and some time this decision of theirs will be looked upon as a step in the right 

 direction. It is impossible to guess with any exactness the pulp before the'peel 

 is cut, and we commend the purpose of any judges who go inside the fruit to 

 help in the decision. 



Odoher, 1877 . S. Q. Lent. 



THE USE OF APPLES. 



With us the use of the apple, as an article of food, is far underrated. Be- 

 sides containing a large amount of sugar, mucilage and other nutritive matter, 

 apples contain vegetable acids, aromatic qualities, etc., which act powerfully iu 

 the capacity of refrigerants, tonics, and antiseptics, and when freely used at 

 the season of mellow ripeness they prevent debility, indigestion, and avert, 

 without doubt, many of the ''ills that flesh is heir to." The operatives of 

 Cornwall, England, consider ripe apples nearly as nourishing as bread, and far 

 more so than potatoes. In the year 1801 — which was a year of much scarcity 

 — apples, instead of being converted into cider, were sold to the poor, and the 

 laborers asserted that they could "stand their work " on baked apples without 

 meat; whereas a potato diet required either meat or some other substantial 

 nutrimerit. The French and Germans use apples extensively : so do the inhab- 

 itants of all European nations. The laborers depend upon them as an article 

 of food, and frequently make a dinner of sliced apples and bread. There is 

 no fruit cooked iu as many different ways in our country as apples, nor is there 

 any fruit whose value as an article of nutriment, is as great and so little 

 appreciated. 



