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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



land. The general character of the soil is 

 a warm, sandy loam, easily tilled and pro- 

 ductive. A considerable portion of the 

 space occupied comprises an old garden, 

 rich in humus and heavily manured before 

 planting. Wood ashes is the only dressing 



applied in growing the peach trees, most 

 of which occupy the well-drained slope of 

 the knoll. All have made a fine growth 

 and are in thriving condition. — Country 

 Gentleman. 



GROWING AND EXHIBITING FRUIT. 



.\I-L dessert fruits to be of value for 

 market or attractive for home use 

 must be handsome in color and 

 "^^^^ form. Cooking fruit, to be oi the 

 best quality, must be fair and fine grained. 

 So we have several things other than size 

 to consider in the fruit exhibits, and I think 

 it important that the judges of fruit at our 

 larger exhibitions should try to encourage 

 the growing of fruit ot the best quality as 

 well as of the largest size; for instance, a 

 very large apple of poor color or quality is 

 of but little value, and a small strawberry of 

 fine color and quality is equally undesirable, 

 from a commercial point at least, so we should 

 consider that size and color must go together 

 to make a perfect fruit. 



Very many varieties of fruit are shown, 

 especially at our agricultural fairs, long be- 

 fore they should be ripe, and there is an en- 

 deavor to get a color similar to what the fruit 

 should have when ripe, but this is all wrong, 

 because we do not want Baldwin apples 

 ready for the table in September, or North- 

 ern Spy in October. 



Judges who consider color the most im- 

 portant quality in fruit are likely to do more 

 for the good of the fruit interests than those 

 who consider size oi the fruit of the first im- 

 portance; but the ideal fruit is one of good 

 size and color. 



There is a difference of opinion among fruit 



judges in regard to imperfections. Some 

 claim that a plate of fruit is no better than 

 the poorest specimen, and they will often 

 throw out a plate because of a defect in a 

 single specimen, when those remaining are 

 much better than any other whole plate. 

 Other judges claim that if the eleven are 

 better than any other twelve they should 

 have the prize. 



While size and color are in general the 

 two most important qualities in the fruit ex- 

 hibition, when we consider the peach we 

 should use a great deal of care, or we may 

 encourage the exhibition of the product of 

 disease. Perhaps there is no other fruit 

 that is increased in size and color as is the 

 peach by disease. It has been so that there 

 was no use in showing sound peaches at 

 some exhibitions, as the prizes were all 

 given to prematurely ripened fruit. I have 

 seen prizes for Crawfords, Early and Late, 

 given to peaches between which one could 

 hardly tell the difference. It is not uncom- 

 mon to see the prizes given to ripe Elbertas 

 and Crosbys early in September, when the 

 sound fruit shows no signs of ripening. 

 These displays of diseased peaches may take 

 better with the public and are certainly more 

 of an attraction than good sound fruit, but 

 I believe they are against the promotion of 

 horticulture. — H. R. Ke>in\\ before Mass. 

 H. Society. 



