6o State Horticultural Society. 



he won't hurt you, and he couldn't if he would. So long as the apple 

 shippers are not in a trust or combine, competition will always compel 

 them to pay fair market value for apples, and there is no more danger of 

 that than there is of the apple growers forming a trust or corribine. 



The apple shippers and the apple growers in some respects are "birds 

 of a feather," they are all sweet harmony in conventions, and believe in 

 having "a good time" together, but when it comes down to business, they 

 don't agree, and never will, except on one proposition, namely, that the 

 Missouri Ben Davis is the best apple in the world. 



JUDGING FRUITS. 



(Prof. L. II. Taft, Agricultural College, Michigan.) 



In exhibiting fruits the manner of doing so and of the preparation 

 is the cause of success. This exhibit of fruit is the finest ever had in 

 jars and from cold storage, but there has not been care enough in pack- 

 ing. Do not blame the superintendent nor the judge for lack of awards 

 if your fruit is carelessly sorted or poorly packed. 



There are two methods that may be used in judging fruit exhibits. 

 One is to off hand pass upon the fruit. Second, to determine the standard 

 of each exhibit. To do this we must have a score card by which the 

 judges may determine the comparative merits. 



The first point is size, although not of the utmost importance. One 

 plate of five full normal and uniform specimens will score higher than 

 a plate of four good specimens and one larger one; or four normal will 

 grade higher than four overgrown ones, since the latter are imperfect 

 usually in color or form. Size relates to size and considers uniformity, 

 or uniformity is a separate item counting twenty or twenty-five points. 

 Form and color should be uniform and they relate to all classes of fruits. 

 Color of course, should be uniform in making up a plate of fruit. It- 

 would be far better to have five specimens really uniform in color, and 

 I would mark them far higher than if I had four specimens of the proper 

 color and one w-hich vras undercolored. Form means the typical form 

 for a variety. But the judge must consider the district, as varieties 

 vary usually in some particulars in each district. 



On the point of quality there is a variation among score cards, but 

 thirty points is out of proportion. Here we use 15 for each point of size, 

 color, form and quality, and uniformity counts a part of each. Another 

 card counts ten each for size, color and form and fifteen each for quality 

 and uniformity. Twenty counts are given on the size of the exhibit. 



