'4 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



CLOSE OF THE GLASGOW EXHIBITION. 



^OW that the Glasg-ow International 

 Exhibition is a thing of the past, the 

 grounds deserted and the beautiful 

 exhibition buildings littered with 

 packing cases and packing material and all 

 the debris that accompanies a removal, it 

 may be well for us to look back and take 

 stock, as it were, of our own share in it. 

 And I may say at the outset, that visitors to 

 the exhibition, repeated many times over 

 that the Canadian Pavilion was the most 

 attractive part of the exhibition. And, al- 

 though one may understand that what is 

 said to one's face may partake of the nature 

 of flattery — that although the people of 

 North Britain may not have kissed the 

 Blarney Stone, they may nevertheless blaw 

 in yer lug a wee, and that a grain of salt 

 ought to be added to praise of your own 

 work, etc. Yet I think we ought to give 

 our friends on this side credit for sincerity 

 even though we had no other reason for 

 taking their word. But it is a fact that many 

 of our staff have heard time and again the 

 praises of the Canadian exhibit from the 

 good natured crowd when it was not known 

 that there was " a chiel among them taking 

 notes," and who might print them. 



As the immense crowds of people passed 

 through our building we could not help 

 overhearing their remarks on the various 

 items of our exhibits and I may say without 

 any hesitation that they were invariably 

 complimentary to Canada and the Canadians, 

 though occasionally we had to listen to a 

 little good natured chaffing. 



Some of the agricultural implements were 

 absolutely new to thousands of visitors, 

 many clever farmers amongst the number. 

 From amongst the larger implements there 

 was the Disk harrow, the Spring tooth 

 harrow and the Hay loader. Among the 

 small implements that seemed to catch the 



eye was the two-wheeled hand hoes, exhibit- 

 ed by Wm. Ewing & Co., Montreal. These 

 were closely examined and much admired, 

 but many of the farmers said that the soil of 

 Scotland was too coarse to permit of their 

 use there. 



But I am sure you will prefer to hear 

 something of our own special exhibit, namely, 

 the fruit. It was not a very large display, 

 nor was any great expense incurred in set- 

 ting it out. Nevertheless, it was the centre 

 of attraction in the Canadian Pavilion. 

 Whatever one might miss, no one was will- 

 ing to miss the fruit. The remarks made 

 upon it were, to us who are accustomed to 

 the magnificent displays made in almost any 

 Ontario town, or in the eastern townships, 

 not to speak of Toronto or Montreal, to say 

 the very least, extravagant. 



Thousands of people of all classes said it 

 was the finest they had ever seen, and when 

 they found that it was a year old, and had 

 sampled it, and found it almost equal to 

 fresh fruit, perfect in texture and flavor, 

 they marvelled. 



Our exhibit of fresh fruit, i.e., fruit in the 

 natural state, was composed almost entirely 

 of apples. The only exceptions were a few 

 plates of pears, unnamed, that came in one 

 of the Nova Scotia cases 



As a general rule the apples were not of 

 unusual size, but were very even in size, and 

 most of them of beautiful color. The very 

 large ones were Gloria Mundi, some wonder- 

 ful specimens of Spys from Lord Aberdeen's 

 orchard, at Vernon, B.C., Fallawaters and 

 Ben Davis from Ontario and Nova Scotia, 

 and I should not fail to mention some glor- 

 ious Blenheim Oranges also from both 

 Ontario and Nova Scotia. But it is hard to 

 discriminate — almost all our fruit was ex- 

 cellent, and the way it held out to the very 

 last, was a continual wonder. A question 



