March, 1909 



THE CANADIAN H E T I C U L T U E I S T 



61 



stands alone and on its own merits and re- 

 ceives awards accordingly. Because British 

 Columbia won gold medals does not mean 



Riat that province won them over the 

 Ihers, nor does it say that Ontario and 

 ova Scotia won gold medals last November 

 ir better displays than that of British 

 olumbia, or of any other colonial exhibi- 

 l. tor. It means that these exhibits were 

 ij^^ach worthy of the honors conferred and 

 ;j ftiat they received equal recognition because 

 I equally worthy. Let it be remembered that 

 our provincial exhibits at London are sent 

 not for inter-provincial competition but foi- 

 advertizing to the world the great fruit 

 growing possibilities of our Dominion. 



Judging Fruit at Royal Horticultural Show 



Can some of our subscribers forward to 

 this office copies of the February, 1908. or 

 October, 1908, issues of The Canadian Hor- 

 TICULTURI.ST. We desire to secure the same 

 f"r our files, and would much appreciate 

 the receipt of one or both of these issues. 



Should Not Separate Work 



Editor, The Canadian Horticulturist: 

 —I am interested in your editorial in the 

 January issue of The Canadian Horticul- 

 turist under the caption, "A Biological 

 Division Needed." It seems to me that this 

 is an excellent suggestion. Your proposed 

 method of organization, however, does not 

 appeal to me. You say very truly that all 

 biological work related to the farmer and 

 the farm has been carried on at the central 

 station of the Dominion farm system during 

 the past twenty years. This work has been 

 conducted by the departments interested, 

 ■^'ou now propose to separate this vital in- 

 vestigational work from the institution 

 which has been specifically established for 

 the purpose of dealing with just such prob- 

 lems, and give it to another and entirely 

 distinct division of this department of pub- 

 lic service. 



The experimental farms of Canada were 

 organized expressly for the purpose of deal- 

 ing with biological life problems. The in- 

 side service was organized, as I understand 

 it, for administrative work. Would it not 

 be just as logical to recommend the affilia- 

 tion of a legislative service with the Ottawa 

 farm, as a biological division with the ad- 

 ministrative branch? Each has its own 

 facilities for carrying out its own type of 

 work. The disarrangement of these would 

 mean at any rate the unnecessary duplica- 

 tioij of equipment and facilities. It seems 

 to me that it would be both illogical and 

 unwise. 



These remarks are prompted not by a 

 mere desire to take part in a discussion, 

 but by virtue of the interest which arises 

 out of former association with the Domin- 

 ion Experimental Farm system, and a 

 somewhat extended knowledge of organiza- 

 tion methods in relation to public service 

 for agriculture in the United States.— John 

 Craig, Professor of Horticulture, Cornell 

 University, Ithaca, N. Y. 



The Canadian Horticulturist stands 

 lor everything that will tend to develop 

 the great horticultural resources of this 

 great Dominion. ' 



I have taken The Canadian Horticul- 

 turist for 20 years, and have gained a great 

 deal of useful information from it. I could 



\\ not get along without it. — James Wittup, 



'• Yale-Cariboo, B. C. 



Another big apple show will be held in 

 Spokane, Wash., this year. Orchardists in 

 all parts of the world will be invited to com- 

 pete and it is expected that the prize list 

 ,will represent more than $50,000, in addi- 

 "|pn to trophies, cups and special awards. 



AMONG most Canadian fruit growers, 

 there has been a misconception in 

 respect to the manner in which fruit 

 is judged at the Royal Horticultural So- 

 ciety's Shows in London, England. Letters 

 asking for information on this point have 

 been received from various sources by The 

 Canadian Horticulturist. These requests 

 were submitted to two gentlemen who had 

 charge of Canadian exhibits at the Royal 

 show last November. 



Mr. R. M. Palmer, Deputy Minister of 

 Agriculture for British Columbia, replied 

 as follows : 



"I regret that I am unable to furnish the 

 information requested. Permit me to sug- 

 gest that you could, no doubt, obtain the 

 information desired on application to the 

 secretary of the Royal Horticultural So- 

 ciety, Vincent Square, London. I may, per- 

 haps, state that at the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's colonial fruit shows, exhibits of 

 British Columbia fruit have been awarded 

 medals for merit. These medals are of 

 various grades, from the gold medal of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society, which I under- 

 stand, is the highest award given, to silver 

 gilt, silver and bronze medals." The secre- 

 tary of the Royal Horticultural Society has 

 been asked by The Canadian Horticul- 

 turist to furnish the desired information. 



their awards accordingly. It is my opinion 

 that in doing this they saddled themselves 

 with the exceedingly hard problem of satis- 

 fying all exhibitors and governments. 



"For instance, at the last exhibition held 

 in November, they had at the exhibition all 

 the different islands of the British West 

 Indies and Canada was represented by On- 

 tario, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia. 

 The exhibits from the other provinces were 

 made up of private exhibits from the differ- 

 ent growers, while those from Ontario were 

 shown by the Department of Agriculture 

 for the province. We entered in seven dif- 

 ferent classes and in an interview with the 

 assistant-secretary of the society, who by 

 the way, has practically complete control, I 

 was told that the exhibits were not competi- 

 tive and given to understand that it was 

 unnecessary to divide our exhibit into its 

 component parts. However, we divided it 

 as nearly as possible showing a table ol 

 dessert varieties, a table of vegetables, one 

 of preserves and one of canned goods. 



"After the awards of the prizes were made 

 Ontario was given a gold medal. British 

 Columbia and Nova Scotia also received 

 one, together with the additional medals 

 awarded to the individual exhibits; i.e., 

 these two provinces' exhibits consisted, of 

 exhibits sent by growers all of whom re- 



Part of Ontario'i Exhibit Which Won a Gold Medal at Royal Horticultural Society's Show'Latt November 



i 



His reply will be published in the issue fol- 

 lowing its arrival. 



Mr. T. B. Revett of the Ontario Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture gives some valuable 

 information in the following letter: 



"The Royal Horticultural Society inaugur- 

 ated three colonial exhibitions and their 

 chief object was to bring before the British 

 public the horticultural products of the dif- 

 ferent colonies. They were confronted with 

 two great problems : First, to get the colon- 

 ial growers and governments interested; 

 and second, to attract the attention of the 

 British public. Owing to these obstacles 

 they have had to abandon two of these ex- 

 hibitions and will continue the show in 

 November another year in order to give it 

 another opportunity to prove itself of value. 



"It will be easily understood that the 

 primary consideration of the society was 

 to obtain the exhibits and co-operation of the 

 growers and governments of the colonies, 

 and they naturally gave any obstacle which 

 would tend to cause any bad feeling 

 amongst the different exhibitors a very wide 

 berth and, acting under this influence, they 

 decided that the wisest plan was to make 

 the -exhibits non-competitive and to judge 

 them by a standard of excellence, giving 



ceived a medal, then a gold medal was 

 awarded to the government for these exhi- 

 bits as a whole or virtually for the assist- 

 ance given in sending over and looking 

 after the exhibits. 



"If Ontario had entered her exhibits 

 under different names she would have re- 

 ceived the same treatment, but according 

 to the constitution or minute book of the 

 society, an exhibitor, having received the 

 maximum reward in the shape of a gold 

 medal for one of his exhibits could not 

 receive another award, except he had en- 

 tered the exhibits under another name. You 

 will see by this that there was practically 

 no judging, no separation oi classes and 

 awards were apparently given to all exhibi- 

 tors. There were not a few varieties impro- 

 perly named and in one instance the fruit 

 was not even first-class fruit. 



"The Royal Horticultural Society is a 

 very strong and highly respected organiza- 

 tion in England and, as previously explain- 

 ed, their object is to bring the products of 

 the colonies before the British public, and 

 those receiving the highest award from them 

 establishes a reputation among the English 

 horticulturists. 



''The show itself was an excellent one. 



