EXHIBITING FRUIT AT MINN. STATE FAIR. 185 
Third. Arrangement. This matter will be very easy if the fruit is on 
hand in perfect condition and plainly labeled. Do not be tempted to put 
more than four apples on a plate, or to slip in a specimen of any similar 
variety to make up a plate that may for some reason be short the required 
number. Neatness, honesty and good temper are the three cardinal virtues 
of a good exhibitor. Arrange the collection so that sizes and colors will 
be somewhat contrasted. A plate of bright yellow,- medium sized apples 
will set off a plate of large red apples to excellent advantage; so also will 
the red and white grapes contrast and make distinct and interesting a some- 
what monotonous collection of blacks. 
After the exhibit is in place as you wish it to stand, go over the apples 
with a soft cotton rag and wiping off all dust polish them till they take on 
that brilliant finish that catches the popular eye. When everything is as 
clean and bright and pretty as can be, label each plate with the labels 
furnished by the association. 
Finally, by cultivating the feeling that the rules and regulations are in- 
tended to promote fairness between exhibitors as well as the general success 
of the fair, and by being courteous and quick to respond to any suggestions 
or requirements of the superintendent of your division, there will be small 
chance of your being found among that gloomy minority that never fails 
to. complain of the partiality of the judges and the arbitrary measures of the 
officers. 
It may be well to mention the fact that the rules of the fair now require 
all fruit to be entered and on the tables the Saturday night before the fair 
opens, and that it is a safe and good plan to enter whatever fruit you are 
likely to exhibit as soon as you receive the premium list, which is sometimes 
a month or more before it is possible to know just what the season will 
bring forth. However, as there is no penalty for failing to fill all that we 
have entered we always make out this “blanket” list as soon as the premium 
list is received and thus avoid the danger of forgetting the important matter 
of making entries. 
Mr. Dartt: Iam sorry I did not hear all of Mr. Wedge’s paper, 
but I want to say something on that subject of exhibiting at our 
fairs. Now we may ask the question, what are fairs for? You 
will say they are for the purpose of educating our people and to 
encourage the production of fruit and its exhibition. What do they 
look to be like? They look to be like an effort to bring out the 
biggest show possible without having to grow it. The man makes 
a grand show on the tables with his sweepstakes entry, and he walks 
proudly up and down before his grand exhibit, while the fellow who 
raises his own fruit, who has got something good for the country, 
he should have the premium. In competition with those big sweep- 
stakes premiums it discourages him. I am not going to take my 
little batch there to be sneered at. 
Then those rigid rules. What are they for? They are to ac- 
commodate the judges. Who ought to be accommodated? The 
man who is appointed judge to look over the fruit or the man who 
raises the fruit? I claim it is the producer who should be accom- 
modated every time. I might say that I have been a judge at fairs, 
