THE FRUIT AWARDS AT PARIS. 



-I feel that it is scarcely fair to 

 hold back the list of awards made 



by the jury on fruits at the Paris 

 Exposition last year. In handing 

 this list to you, I do so with this explana- 

 tion and caution, that while all these awards 

 were actually made upon the dates given by 

 the jury of group 8, of which I had the 

 honor to be a member, the whole had to be 

 revised or confirmed by the superior jury, 

 whose movements and action seems to be 

 not only slow, but uncertain. Before leav- 

 ing I could not obtain this confirmation, 

 though I made many attempts to do so, nor 

 could I obtain any good reason why it should 

 not be granted. 



I now give the list for publication in fair- 

 ness, not only to exhibitors, but to myself. 

 The supreme jury may eventually confirm 

 these, as they should in fairness, or they 

 may cut out as many as they desire and 

 give no particular reason for so doing. In 

 any event I am informed that it will be 

 some months ere we can look for a final 

 decision. 



Besides these awards my predecessor, 

 Mr. Hamilton, obtained all those made from 

 the opening of the exhibition up to the con- 

 course held before Sept. 13th. 



But if juries were unsatisfactory and slow 

 there, they could not help knowing and feel- 

 ing that Canada was able to hold her own 

 against the world, especially in apples of 

 finest form, color and flavor. 



I frequently thought of discussions we 

 used to indulge in at our meetings in yQars 

 gone by, where the general sentiment went 

 to show that in this province at all events 

 we are growing too many apples, and that 

 after satisfying the home demand we had no 

 market but Britain. The fact is we have 

 all Europe, and in order to satisfy that 

 market our orchard capacity must be greatly 



enlarged. But we must grow the quality 

 required and to do this must get rid of 

 enemies in insects and diseases. The fruit 

 grower must no longer neglect his orchard 

 if he intends to make profit. There is no 

 use in shipping poor or even medium fruit 

 to any market. I could buy Canadian apples 

 at retail stores in the cities of Britain at as 

 low a price as I would have to pay in any 

 town in Ontario. I found cheese could be 

 bought for as low a price and in some cases 

 for less than at home and meat also. But 

 mark you, all these Canadian products 

 could only be had at low prices when the 

 quality was inferior, these apples were 

 spotted and wormy, irregular in form and 

 color, and like the cheap cheese, off flavor. 

 But fine apples, belonging to No. i brand, 

 were high in price ; good Canadian cheese 

 was out of our reach in price, and prime 

 beef, was all that the shipper could desire 

 for profit. The poor article is not wanted 

 in Europe, and has to be sacrificed to get 

 rid of it. 



\\"liile in Paris my time was mostly occu- 

 pied in testing markets. I found abundant 

 opportunity to enlarge our fruit market, but 

 in order to fill my orders promptly I was 

 compelled to purchase in Britain and repack 

 for other markets, fearing that the Canadian 

 shipper would not deliver such a brand as 

 would inspire confidence in our product. I 

 adopted mostly the bushel box, although I 

 did sell some in barrels. To give such par- 

 ticulars as I could in detail of sales would 

 occupy too much of your space. Sufiice it 

 is to say that, although Paris is not a good 

 centre to work from, I was able to make 

 connections sufficient to warrant me in stat- 

 ing most positively that our apples properly 

 grown, selected and packed, will find a 

 market in any countr}- in Europe, owing to 

 their superior quality generally over all 



