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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Fig. 1765. Home of Mr. T. H. Parker. 



FRUIT IN OXFORD COUNTY. 



^T was my privilege last fall, as also the fall 

 before, to visit the prog^ressive town of 

 Woodstock as judg^e of the fruit displayed 

 ^^ at the ag^ricultural exhibition there. That 

 gave me an opportunity to compare the fruit 

 grown in the Oxford district with that grown 

 in the other sections of Ontario which I have 

 from time to time visited in a similar capaci- 

 ty. It has long been held, and believed by 

 many, that the Huron district surpasses all 

 other sections of Ontario in the quantity and 

 quality of apples it produces. I would like 

 to uphold the supremacy of my own section 

 in all things if I could honestly do so ; but 

 in the matter of apple production my obser- 

 vation and experience will not permit me. 

 Having had an experience extending over 

 seven years as a judge on fruit at many of 

 the best apple centres in the province, I am 

 compelled by my own close observation to 



give the palm to Oxford County for the finest 

 specimens of many of our standard varieties 

 of apples. If those exhibits which came un- 

 der my observation can be considered a fair 

 criterion of the general crop produced, Ox- 

 ford County stands at the head of the many 

 fine sections of Ontario for the quality of ap- 

 ples grown. The Golden Russets and Snow 

 apples that took the prize at Woodstock in 

 1898 would easily have beaten any collection 

 shown between Toronto and Port Huron. 

 In 1899, an off year for apples, four exhibits 

 in the Fall Pippin class at Woodstock sur- 

 passed anything of the kind that I have seen 

 anywhere, and the Golden Russet, Snows, 

 Talman Sweets and Baldwins, would all have 

 carried off the prizes in their respective 

 classes at any of the several exhibitions that 

 I attended in other parts of the province. 

 All the other standard varieties shown at 



