COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 311 



conical and oblique. The stud}^ of 400 or 500 of them, with which I 

 have been more or less familiar, noting their variations in size, in- 

 tensity of color and quality', as the}^ have been raised in widely dif- 

 ferent localities, was truly interesting. After enjoj'ing such oppor- 

 tunities, and seeing the variations and effects of soil and climate 

 upon fruits, we are more crankj^ than ever, for we now boldly assert 

 that there is a pomological future for this region, and that it will be 

 hastened as one of the results of the World's Columbian Exposition. 



Our first day at the fair, and, in fact, the first week, was unsatisfac- 

 tory, and we were bewildered at the thought of having to see so much 

 in the limited time of ten or twelve days. On the first day we took 

 a hasty survey of the fruit exhibits, and then made our plans for 

 seeing the most in the shortest period of time; but soon cast them 

 aside, resolving to see the most of that which gave us the greatest 

 enjoyment and promised the most lasting good. The result was 

 that we spent a considerable portion of every da}' among the fruit 

 tables in the Horticultural Building. At our first visit, only such 

 fruits of the temperate region could be seen in their natural state as 

 had great keeping qualities, or could be preserved in cold storage, 

 ■u'hile the perishable fruits were shown in solution and exhibited in 

 glass jars. The artistic effect was grand, but half the life lesson was 

 lost. At this early date California, and Florida had the advantage 

 over all the other states in being able to make great and gorgeous dis- 

 plays of the citrus and other tropical fruits, and the first conviction 

 of nearly all visitors was that theirs were the greatest and grandest 

 of fruits in the exposition. But with the multitudes having pomo- 

 logical tastes that conviction gradually wore away as the}' saw, in 

 such profusion, the fruits of other regions in all their varying 

 aspects, as produced under differing environments of soil and 

 climate, and all enquiring minds at once found opened before them 

 a broad field for study and investigation. 



At this date the exhibits of some of the states were ver}' incom- 

 plete, but continued to grow in magnitude, beauty and interest 

 until near the close of the fair. One of the interesting- curiosities at 

 this time was two shipments of apples from New South Wales, picked 

 from the trees just at the time when the trees were in full bloom in 

 our best apple districts. Both were picked and started on the same 

 daj'; one came bj' way of San Francisco and was forty five daj'S in 

 transit; the other bj^ way of Liverpool and New York and was about 

 sixty days in making the trip. They arrived in fine condition. Onlj' 

 about twenty per cent, were of the familiar varieties grown in our 

 older apple regions, and of these the environment of soil and climate 

 had so greatly changed the appearance that it was difficult for ex- 

 perts to identify them without cutting and tasting. The quality of 

 their fruits proved good and we maj' find a competition in that far-off 

 region that will take the profits off the cold storage stock of Ben 

 Davis and Willows that fill the gap in our summer trade from May 

 until August, by crowding them out with fresher far-fetched stock. 



There was almost as great a difference observable in the appear- 

 ance of varieties grown in the different fruit regions of this country. 

 In some regions the shades of reds run into browns and deep crim- 



