98 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



THE FALL FAIR AS A HORTICULTURAL EDUCATOR. 



BY PROF. H. L. HUTT, O. A. C. , GUELPH. 



fHE fall fair has not, as a rule, been 

 looked upon as one of the branches 

 of our educational system ; but it is, 

 nevertheless, one of the farmer's schools 

 where valuable information may be imparted, 

 and lessons of the most practical kind may 

 be learned by means of object lessons. 



There has been much discussion of late 

 about increasing' the educational value of 

 these fairs by the employment of expert 

 judges — men who could not only award the 

 prizes properly, but could for the benefit of 

 those present give good reasons for their de- 

 cisions. This would certainly be a move in 

 the right direction, but before any material 

 improvement in this way can be made along 

 the line of horticultural education, we believe 

 it will be necessary to begin further back, 

 and revise or remodel a majority of the prize 

 lists ; for, unless the prize list is arranged to 

 bring out a good display of fruit of the right 

 kinds, the expert judge, no matter how ex- 

 pert he may be, will be seriously handicapped 

 in his efforts to impart information. 



My attention was first called to the great 

 necessity for improvement along thi«s line; 

 last summer, when I was asked to revise the 

 horticultural section of the prize list of one 

 of our leading county exhibitions ; and it 

 struck me very forcibly that if so much re- 

 vision was necessary in the case of one of 

 the leading exhibitions, what must it be with 

 many of the smaller fairs, where less atten- 

 tion is given to the prize list ? 



Since then I have taken the trouble to ex- 

 amine carefully a large number of the lists 

 from all parts of the country, and I can 

 assure you the greater number of our fall 

 fairs are coming far short of providing the 



education they might from a horticultural 

 standpoint. 



I would like, therefore, to offer a few 

 suggestions as to how these fairs might be 

 made of much greater value to the people 

 of all parts of the province, by spreading 

 reliable information relative to fruit growing. 



1. Every prize list should be made to en- 

 courage the production and exhibition of every 

 class of fruit which may be successfully grown 

 and shown in the section. In the most favor- 

 able .fruit sections, many of the lists are 

 made to include most of the fruit grown 

 there, and which are in season at the time 

 of the fair, such as apples, pears, grapes, 

 plums, peaches, quinces, etc., but the greater 

 number of them stop short at apples, pears, 

 and grapes, and make no mention of any 

 other kinds of fruit, whatever. Now this is 

 not because other kinds of fruit cannot be 

 grown, tor even in the least favorable fruit 

 sections of the province plums of the Ameri- 

 can type are quite hardy and can be grown 

 to perfection. In some cases where the 

 fairs are held late in the season, it may, of 

 course, be difficult to keep such fruit in con- 

 dition till fair time, but in a good cool cellar 

 many of the latter kinds might easily be 

 kept for some time. I am inclined to be- 

 lieve it would be a wise plan to place on the 

 lists even the earlier or more perishable 

 fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, 

 gooseberries and currants, and allow these 

 to be shown in preservative fluids in ordin- 

 ary gem jars, so as to show the fruits as 

 nearly as possible in the natural condition. 

 Mr. C. C. Caston made an exhibit of this 

 kind at the Barrie Fair a year ago, which 

 attracted great attention, and which was 



