APPLES AND FLOWERS. 



APPLES AND FLOWERS. 



81 



The Committee on apples and flowers having dis- 

 charged their duty, beg leave to submit the following 

 report : 



The display of apples was excellent and in many 

 respects superior to that of former years. There was- 

 evidence of a more careful attention to the selection of 

 the choicer varieties, and the specimens presented, in 

 their smoothness and freedom from blemish, indicated 

 care and culture. In their award of premiums your 

 Committee were not governed solely nor mainly by 

 the size and fairness of the specimens presented, but 

 had regard in a great measure to the choiceness and 

 value of the varieties represented, believing those to be 

 of paramount importance. It is only by a careful selec- 

 tion of the best varieties (with a regard at the same 

 time, of course, to fitness of soil and climate) that a 

 truly valuable apple orchard can be raised, and it is 

 only in this manner that the quality of the apple can 

 be permanently, and to any considerable degree, 

 improved. The raising of the apple is fast getting to 

 be an object of the first importance to the farmer, 

 being one of the most lucrative and least laborious uses 

 to which he can put his soil, and nothing which tends 

 to its improvement and perfection can be considered 

 unworthy his attention. In this connection we would 

 remark, that a little closer attention to the rules of 

 the society in relation to the number of specimens 

 required of each variety, would in many cases obviate 

 no small degree of disappointment. We were unable 

 to award premiums in several instances to entries which 



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