RULES. 207 



to the president, who will examine them, and in case of insuffi- 

 ciency or omission, will return them with instructions. When 

 accepted by the president, they will be delivered to the secretary. 



7. When an exhibit is not deemed worthy of a premium, the 

 committee will withhold the award. 



8. A majority of an awarding committee, when present, shall 

 constitute a quorum, and of those present, the first on the list 

 shall act as chairman, unless the committee shall arrange other- 

 wise. 



9. Awarding committees, in estimating the comparative 

 values of exhibits, are instructed to base such estimates strictly 

 upon the varieties in such collections that shall be correctly 

 labeled by the exhibitors prior to the corrections of the com- 

 mittee on nomenclature. 



10. In awarding premiums upon any and all exhibits of fruits, 

 committees will exclude any and all unlabeled and incorrectly 

 labeled specimens, as well as duplicates, and consider : 1st, the 

 value of the varieties for the required purpose, as given in the 

 society's Catalogue of Fruits ; 2d, the color, size, and evenness 

 of the specimens ; 3d, their freedom from the marks of insects 

 and other blemishes ; 4th, the apparent carefulness in handling 

 and the tastefulness of the exhibit, recollecting that the grada- 

 tions of the catalogue call for perfect specimens. These grada- 

 tions should, therefore, be correspondingly lowered in case of 

 deficiencies or imperfections. A copy of the catalogue will, for 

 this purpose, be furnished to each committee. In grading col- 

 lections entered for family purposes, the dessert and culinary 

 sub-columns should be consulted, and the gradation expressing 

 the highest value taken. For market, the gradations of the 

 market sub-column only should be employed. 



11. In the case of fruits not named in the catalogue, for the 

 dessert, committees should consider : 1st, quality ; 2d, beauty ; 

 3d, size. For culinary uses : 1st, flavor ; 2d, texture ; 3d, size. 

 For market : 1st, productiveness; 2d, color; 3d, handling qual- 

 ities ; 4th, suitable, even size. 



12. The true and legitimate purpose of the premiums offered 

 is to draw out the views of both exhibitors and committees 



