January, 1922. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Still More About Imperial Show 



Two changes in Imperial Fruit Show 

 procadure and regulations would miti- 

 gate some of the disadvantages suf- 

 fered by Canadian entries at the recent exhi- 

 bition in the Crystal Palace, London — 

 fewer judging and no unwrapping of fruit 

 before judging. That is the opinion of P. J. 

 Carey. Dominion Fruit Branch demonstra- 

 tor, who returned last month from London 

 and a subsquent holiday in New York. Mr. 

 Carey had charge of the Canadian Govern- 

 ment's display at the show, and assisted in 

 staging several of the exhibits, both com- 

 ■letitive and non-comp3titive, from the pro- - 

 . inces. 



To The Canadian Horticulturist, Mr. Carey 

 said that less than a half-dozen experienc- 

 ed judges would have been sufficient to 

 over the entire show. Instead, there were 

 iliout 80 judges (not 65, as Mr. Carey had 

 first thought in London, and so stated in 

 the despatch that h3 sent to The Canadian 

 1 forticulturist in November). In his opin- 



■n, judges for the British Empire and Over- 

 ■ as sections, at least, should be secured 

 !om some country that was not competing 

 and they should be men who had a thorough 

 knowladge of box packs and packing. He 

 had heard some talk in London about ap- 

 pointing French judges for the next show, 

 but was not in favor of that idea, because 

 SYench judges knew little or nothing about 

 box packing. One or two experienced judges 

 from th3 United States or, if the expense 

 ■were not too great, from Australia or New 

 Zealand, would be satisfactory. 



At the recent show, there was little chance 

 ' !r overseas exhibits to win in the open 

 lasses. The Newton Wonder entry, which 

 violated all rules of grading and packing, 

 as explained on this page last month, win- 

 ning in the culinary class of the British 

 Empire Section was an example. And Cox's 

 Orange Pipin, Mr. Carey thought, would win 

 over there as a dessert apple in competi- 

 tion with any other varieties of the world, 



mply because it was Cox's Orange Pippin, 

 I'jgardless of the quality and appearance of 

 the particular entry or of the manner of 

 grading and packing. 



With reference to requiring the two top ' 

 tiers of apples in boxes being unwrapped, 

 Mr. Carey thought that the regulation 

 should be done away with. It the show was 



to be educational In a commercial way, the 

 fruit should be wrapped and judged as 

 originally packed. That was the right way 

 to judge fruit for commercial purposes 

 Some of the wrappers could be removed 

 "afterwards for exhibition purposes. It was 

 this two-tiers-unwrapped regulation that 

 prevented a number of Canadian entries, in- 

 cluding some of those from Quebec, from 

 winning prizes. Some entries that liad all 

 tlie fruit wrapped and packed in the open- 

 alternating style naturally were too loose 

 after being unwrapped. With the wrappers 

 on, the style of pack was sufficiently solid 

 for commercial purposes, but, cnce the 

 wrappers were removed, any man could 

 imagine what would happen. That was the 

 case with some of the Quebec entries and 

 with a number froin some of the other 

 provinces. 



Speaking of the Quebec entries in par- 

 ticular, Mr. Carey said that the fruit was 

 very fine, but sultered through this regula- 

 tion. The representatives of the Dominion 

 Fruit Branch had taken every precaution 

 and given every attention and assistance 

 towards placing the entries on the stands 

 in the best possible condition. All the 

 Quebec entries that arrived were in the 

 competitions, but fared just as did many of 

 the entries from the other provinces. The 

 Quebec apples met with much complimen- 

 tary attention on the part of all who saw 

 them. 



Canadian Apple Men Must 

 Watch Their Laurels 



fpHE following quotations are from 

 •*• letters on the Imperial Fruit Show 

 received by the Fruit Branch, Ottawa, 

 and read by Mr. Baxter at the re- 

 cent meeting of the Quebec Pomologlcal 

 Society: 



"That the exhibition will stimulate 

 growers In this country (the United King- 

 dom) there cannot be any doubt; at the 

 same time, we also hope that It will In- 

 duce shippers In Canada to give the ut- 

 most possible care and attention to the 

 grading and packing of their fruit." 



"It was to be clearly seen by anyone 

 visiting the show In the Canadian Interest 

 that -English growers are breaking away 

 from their past haphazard and Indifferent 

 methods, and that the effect of an edu- 

 cational show of this kind is bound to be 

 seen. In not the very distant future, In 

 the keener competition that home-grown 

 produce will offer to Canadian and other 

 Imported fruit. The excellent reputation 

 that Canadian packing and grading has 

 already built up will not readily be lost; 

 but. It Is well to emphasize the fact that 

 English growers are now after the busi- 

 ness and. thouqh their progress may be 

 Blow, it will probably be laid on good 

 foundations." 



Comments of English Papers 



THE English papers gave the Imperial 

 Fruit Show wide and persistent pub- 

 licity. The London Daily Mail, which 

 was responsible' for the organization, fin- 

 ancing and arrangement of the show, natur- 

 ally lead in advertising the show's signi- 

 ficance, possibilities and excellence. The 

 Daily Mail well deserved the high praise 

 that it received for making the show pos- 

 sible and for carrying it through to great 

 success. In the words of the British Min- 

 ister of Agriculture, Sir Arthur Grifflth- 

 Boscawen. who opened the show: "The 

 Daily Mail performed a great national, a 

 great Imperial service." From The Daily 

 Mail and other English papers, the fol- 

 lowing interesting comments on the show 

 are taken: 



From the Daily Mail. 



"Tne finest display of amateur-grown 



fruit ever seen excelled only in color 



and beauty by the wealth of fruit sent for 

 exhibition by the professional growers of 

 Great Britain and the Empire." 



"A striking feature of the show was tho 

 success of English growers in the section 

 open to exhibitors from all parts of the 

 Empire. It demonstrated that we are the 

 best growers of apples In the world." 

 From "Canada" (London). 



"The Dominion Government's display 

 consisted of leading varieties gathered 



from all the fruit-growing provinces 



Every specimen was as near perfection 

 as could be secured, and was artistically 

 arranged." 



"Mr. W. L. Hamilton, la charge of the 

 Ontario Fruit Growers' Association fruit, 

 has a very higli opinion of the fruit-grow- 

 ing industry in Ontario, and believes that 

 the province offers nnrivallod opportuni- 

 ties to practical men." 



From the Gardeners' Chronicle. 



"The promoters must bo congratulated 

 on the show as a whole, but we do not 



recognize the claim that it was the finest 

 fruit show ever held, for there have been 

 fruit exhibitions in the same building 

 which, in our opinion, equalled the pres- 

 ent one in interest, if not in extent." 



"The show revealed one important fact, 

 i.e., that great improvement is being made 

 by many commercial growers in the pack- 

 ing and grading of apples for market, al- 

 though it was evident from many of the 

 exhibits that much remains to be done in 

 this direction before the standard of the 

 colonial packer is reached." (Get that 

 "colonial"!) 



"Generally, the home grading was equal 

 to that in the colonial exhibits, but the 

 packing was, at times, inferior. It was 

 also obvious that, in spite of the long jour- 

 ney, Canadian apples would keep sound 

 and good longer, in many circumstances, 

 than the home-grown fruits. This may be 

 explained partly bv the fact that the Cana- 

 dian apples have firmer skins and contain 

 more sugar, but we feel convinced that un- 

 suitable methods of packing are largely 

 responsible for home weaknesses." 



"The greatest interest was naturally 

 centred in the Empire classes, where the 

 Home Country and the great Dominion of 

 Canada competed on equal terms.... It is 

 gratifying to be able to record that both 

 first prizes (dessert and culinary) were 

 won by the Mother Country In the cull- 

 nary class, the champion 20 boxes were of 

 Newton Wonder — a truly wonderful ex- 

 hibit." 



"The Canadian exhibits were mostly of 

 brilliantly colored varieties, such as Snow, 

 hut in many instances the natural bloom 

 had been polished out of existence, leav- 

 ing a shiny, oily-looking surface to the 

 fruits." (This comment referred particu- 

 larly to the Dominion and provincial dis- 

 plays, not in competitions). 



From The Frult-Grower (London). 



"The show may, in the opinion of many, 

 be found to give a new lease of life to 

 the condemned 'offset' pack as a practical 

 commercial pack." (The term "offset" pack 

 is used in England for what is knovra as 

 th(! "r'ff-raff" pack In Conada). 



"The public must not be allowed to for- 

 get the fact that in certain districts of 

 England the growing of fruit has been 

 brought to a higher pitch of perfection 

 than in any other country whatsoever." 



"Packing has been much Improved, and, 

 with quality and color of the first order, 

 the reputed superiority of the North Amer- 

 ican specimens not being observable on 

 this occasion, competition was unusually 

 keen." 



"That the leading dessert (British Em- 

 pire section) proved to be Cox's Orange 

 Pippin, will meet with popular approval, 

 for whatever the judges may have to say 

 on its merits when reckoned according to 

 the standard laid down for their guidance. 

 Cox's Orange Pippin Is to the public the 

 apple par excellence." 



"First place also fell to home-grown 



fruit in the culinary class The judging, 



which was unanimous In favor of Newton 

 Wonder, reached a deadlock when the sec- 

 ond and third prizes came to be decided, 

 and arbitration had to be resorted to be- 

 fore the matter was finally disposed of, 

 the result being that second prize went to 

 Bramley's Seedling, shown by Mr. H.. M. 

 Cobb, of Rochester. Kent, and the third to 

 Greening, the exhibit of the Ontario Fruit 

 Growers' Association, Toronto." 



"In the opinion oj. the judges, the apples 

 shown by growers of the Mother Country 

 In point of appearance, quality, flavor and 

 pack were in advance of those from the 



