25 



some of the wet grounds of lower Berkshire might be utilized for a fair experi' 

 ment of its cultivation. 



On two or three items that fell under the notice of your Committee during 

 their inspection they desire to remark — 1st. — That all the competitors had not 

 scrupulously complied with the Regulations concernmg mention of the time oj 

 ripening. Doubtless good reasons exist for this requirement, and its rigorous 

 enforcement as may be done hereafter — might bar the negligent exhibitor from 

 the premium which his fruit might intrinsically merit. 2d. — There were 

 several errors in naming the fruits. Some of these your Committee's person- 

 al knowledge of the miscalled articles enabled them to detect at once. In other 

 cases the same name was appended by different exhibitors to specimens so di- 

 verse as to render identity impossible. This may come of ignorance or forget- 

 fulness of the true designation ; or from false information given by nursery- 

 mens' agents ; or — we hope not — from a desire to call the article by some 

 name, in order to secure the requisite number of varieties. Accuracy in this 

 respect is greatly desirable, that the changes induced by different locality, or 

 soil or cultivation, may be duly noted, and proper attention will render such 

 accuracy attainable. 



Again, — Your Committee are reasonably certain that some specimens 

 labeled as Fall apples belonged rather in the Winter catalogue. They were 

 agreed that ripening should be dated from the time when the fruit becomes 

 fit for the tooth., and that, on that idea, some varieties marked as ripening in 

 October and November, must hurry up their maturity remarkably, or your 

 Committee would prefer that other teeth than their own should test their 

 merits at the recorded date. A better understanding on this point is desirable. 



Downing says that a region of about one degree in breadth, from the 

 Hudson to the Mississippi, is the belt of apple perfection in our country. Our 

 remark hereon is — that although we are outside of that propitious zone, a sliver 

 of it must lie along under the Taghconic range in Sheffield, since a comparison 

 of the fruit therefrom with samples from one of the Rochester, N. Y., nur- 

 series which lie in the favored region, that were exhibited in another portion 

 of the hall, was in every respect in favor of the growth of Berkshire. 



But we forego farther remark to append the inevitable — and to many, 

 doubtless, the most interesting — portion of our report, viz : the awards of pre- 

 miums. They are as follows : 



Best Fall Apples, Chas. Spurr, Sheffield, $4 



2d do , Ralph Little, Sheffield, 3 



3d do,, Horace Candee, Sheffield, 2 



4th do., Samuel Goodrich, Siockbridge, 1 



Best Variety, Chas. Spurr, Sheffield, 10 



2d do., Zacheus Caude, Sheffield, 

 3d do., Orrin Curtis, Sheffield, 



E. W. B. Canning, 



G. S. Day, )■ Committee. 



R. H. Norton, 



SECOND DIVISION. 



i^eet Winter Apples, H. Z. Candee, Sheffield, $6 



[Wagner, Baldwins, King ot Thompkin Lo,, Northern Spy, Eox Russet, 

 Mammoth Pippin, Cranby Pippin, Spitzenburg,R. I. Greening and 20 Oz.j 

 2d do., Isaac Sptirr, Sheffield, 5 



[Winter Sweeting, Baldwin, Vandevere, King, Jersey Black, Box Rus- 

 set, Northern Spy, R. I. Greening, Spitzenburg, Hubbardston None 

 Such. 

 3d do., Dwight Andrews, Sheffield, 4 



[Mammoth Pippin, Cranby Pippin, Rox Russet, Northern Spy, R. I. 

 Greeniuy. Baldwan, King, Seeknoiarther, Golden Russet.] 



4th do., R. E. Norton. Egremont, 3 



fDanvers Sweet, Ladies Sweeting, R. I. Greening, Baldwin, Swaar, 

 Northern Spy, Mother, Rox Russet, King of ThompkmsCo.] 

 5th do., Charles Spurr, Sheffield, 2 



