RANCHING SUCCESSES. 143 



proportion of wins was not so high, the total number 

 w^as higher than the year before — namely, thirteen. 

 One week earlier I took a collection of fruit to Kaslo, 

 and from there I brought home no less than twenty- 

 two prizes, including what might, perhaps, be re- 

 garded as one of the blue ribbons of the fair, the first 

 for Gravenstein apples, a variety which Kaslo has 

 made peculiarly her own. That counts, then, as 

 success number five. 



In connection with the Nelson show I ought, per- 

 haps, to add that a display which we made of ferns 

 and begonias drew from Earl Grey, the Governor- 

 General of the Dominion, a word of praise, which he 

 expressed to me personally. 



But the greatest triumph of all, along the 

 lines of special success that I am chronicling, came 

 in December, 1908. On the days December 7 — 12 

 was held the largest and undoubtedly also the most 

 important apple show ever held in any country. This 

 was at Spokane, in the neighbouring State of Wash- 

 ington. The prize money awarded reached a total of 

 $35,000 (£7,000), and individual prizes ran up to as 

 high as $100 (£20) in several cases, $500 (£100) in at 

 least two cases, and $1,000 (£200) for the biggest ex- 

 hibit in the show — namely, awhole carload (10 tons) of 

 packed apples. In addition, no fewer than twelve fruit 

 farms, ranging in area from two acres to eight acres, 

 were awarded to successful competitors with divers 

 exhibits. The total amount of apples put into com- 

 petition reached close upon forty tons, the number 

 of separate exhibits being no less than 15,000. The 

 competitors embraced very many of the principal 

 expert growers of the United States — men w^ho stand 



