FIFTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 



21 



compete at a fair that have any scale, and co(l(llin_^- nKitli, any 

 scab or blemish of that kind, because the very first thing- that 

 a judge does is to go around and pick out those plates and 

 lay them one side, unless they are all that way ; but generally 

 \ye can find one or two plates that are free from those things. 

 and those are the ones that get the premiums. One person 

 said: "I will never bring fruit here ag^ain ; I haye got the best 

 plate of apples on that list." We went to him and showed 

 him where we had found evidences of coddling moth and 

 apple mag-got, and his plate had been thrown out and put 

 one side. We are in this business as an education, and when 

 we send fruit to an exhibition we must pick out the best speci- 

 mens possible. 



We used for the first time the metal plates now owned by 

 the Society, which added considerably to the general appear- 

 ance of our tables. It is our hope that the finances of the 

 Societ}- ma\' be such that a few hundred more can be pur- 

 chased, so that it would not be necessary to rent any. In 

 many sections of our state the apple crop was a failure, or 

 nearly so, and there was general complaint of the poor quality 

 of this fruit all over the state. Probably owing to this, some 

 of those who had made larg^e exhibits in former years made 

 none at our last fair, yet in certain sections good apples were 

 grown and found their way to the exhibition. 



The peach crop of 1905 was a large one. In former years 

 our fairs have been held so late in the season that the peach 

 crop was nearly g-one, and only those having cold storage 

 could successfully compete ; but this year, owing to late ripen- 

 ing of the crop, many were able to exhibit directly from the 

 orchard, so that we had upon our tables a larger and better 

 display of this fruit than ever before. 



The pears exhibited were abundant and of superior qual- 

 ity. The expert who did the judging, I understood, said of 

 some of the varieties exhibited that they were the best he had 

 ever seen. 



The exhibit of grapes was large and in quality was fully 

 up to the standard. 



The canned fruits, jellies and pickles covered a large space 

 and were very attractive. 



