FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



the show yard. So classes for cider were insti- 

 tuted and accorded a permanent place in the 

 Society's prize list. The late Mr. F. G. Farwell, 

 the Society's indefatigable steward of cider, and 

 myself, after visiting several cider exhibitions, 

 came to the conclusion that the system of exhibit- 

 ing should be made much more educational. Rows 

 of casks and bottles, whether labelled as prize- 

 winners or not, told the public nothing worth 

 knowing, except that either Brown, Jones, or 

 Robinson had been awarded, or not, a prize. 

 Other cider-makers, desirous of profiting by the 

 experience which led to the manufacture of cider 

 good enough for a prize, had no basis to go upon 

 when no particulars were supplied. In order to 

 remedy this the Society now required every ex- 

 hibitor to accompany his entry with full particulars 

 as to the description of apples used, the nature of 

 the soil on which the fruit was grown, and other 

 information likely to be helpful. This was then 

 copied on to cards, which were attached to each 

 exhibit for the information of the public. The 

 steward further undertook to be in the cider 

 pavilion each day to be interveiwed by cider- 

 makers, who were supplied with tasting orders, 

 so that they might, after sampling, judge for 

 themselves as to the merits of the various exhibits. 

 This resulted in informal gatherings at each show 

 of a most useful and instructive character. A 

 further step taken by the Society was the collect- 

 ing of samples of all the best cider-making apples. 

 Water-colour drawings of these were then most 

 carefully executed, and the apples, having been 

 analysed, a statement of their chemical composition, 



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