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GEEAT APPLE AND PEAE EXHIBITION AT 



HEEEFOED. 



This annual Exhibition, kept in abeyance last year on account of the unproduc- 

 tive fruit season, was held in the Shire-Hall on the 24th and 25th October. To 

 report with what amount of success, I need but state that some 2500 plates were 

 staged, while for lack of room the cider and perry fruit, which may be calculated 

 to have been equal to another thousand plates, had to be grouped in admired dis- 

 order throughout their respective classes. However, as the Judges did not seem 

 to object to this perfunctory arrangement, the public certainly were gainers in the 

 picturesque effect gained by the general effect. Not in extent only was the Exhi- 

 bition pronounced to be the finest ever held in the provinces, but in the rare 

 quality of the fruit ; and, in a notable degree, in the marvellous dash of colour 

 which pervaded the entire hall, an eloquent tribute was paid to our Hereford- 

 shire soil, which I feel sure our Kentish friends, so justly priding themselves on 

 their superior climate and the consequent smoothness and symmetry of their 

 fruits, will be the last to grudge us, roughly handicapped as we of the West 

 Midlands are well nigh every year — even if we escape the spring frosts — before 

 the early growths get a fair start. The size attained by the largest Apple (Belle 

 Dubois) among the collections of that noted exhibitor, Mr. Haycock, gardener to 

 Mr. Roger Leigh, M.P., Barham Court, Maidstone, lib. 4ozs., was 2 ozs. in 

 excess of the largest specimen in the Middlesex collection at Chiswick, but not 

 equal by several ounces to previous records attained at these exhibitions. The 

 same exhibitor carried off the prize for the heaviest dessert Pear (Pitmaston 

 Duchess), 1 lb. 8i oz. Indeed, it may be said that the clean and level as well as 

 grand exhibits of this talented fruit-grower was the theme of general admiration, 

 as I hear it also was at Chiswick. 



I would venture here to guess at one great secret in Mr. Haycock's staging, 

 conducing so signall}' to his success in gaining the Judges' fiat and popular favour. 

 It is simply this, that, given the grand material he has to make the most of (of 

 course, as Mrs. Glass says, you must first catch your hare), he always aims at 

 levelling up throughout his entire collection, and thus never dwarfs a single 

 specimen, or lets in a single weak corner, by introducing a disproportionate large 

 plate or two. May it not be possible Mr. Haycock carries this principle too far in 

 his magnificent collection of dessert Apples, for which he won first prize in an 

 excellent class ? Several noted fruit-growers, as Mr. Bunyard, pronounced it the 

 finest ever staged. Still I venture humbly to suggest, first-rate as every plate 

 was, that size throughout was too large for orthodox dessert Apples, where such 

 all-round varieties as Queen Caroline and Blenheim Orange never (as here) should 

 find a place. Perhaps the most interesting varieties were Melon Apple, Ross 

 Nonpareil, perfect in colour ; Mother Apple, Washington, superb specimen (from 

 under glass I learn) ; Pine Golden Pippin, perfect ; Margil, wonderful colour ; 

 and King of the Pippins, true type. 



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