201 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTUiviol. 



torn by the weight of snow and ice, 

 yet the rest of it showed vigorous 

 growth. 



Ti-uly youre, 



George Baekv, 

 Montreal, Que, Jxily 9th, 1885. 



REPORT ON FRUITS, 



East Simcoc Scmi-Ccntennlal Ezhibition, held at 

 Urillia, '2nd and 3rd of October, ISSi. 



In accord. mce with instructions re- 

 ceived at Barrie, I went to Orillia on 

 Thurschiy evening, the 2nd October. 

 On Friday morning I proceeded to the 

 F.iir grounds, where I at once foiind 

 the Seci'etary of the Association, H. 

 S. Scadding, Esq., who kindly went 

 with me to the Hail and gave the 

 necessary instructions to enable me to 

 examine the fruit to the best advantage. 

 The building was a very large struc- 

 ture ; well suited for the purpose. It 

 was well lilled with all that usually 

 appertains to a large County, Central, 

 or Union Exhibition. There was 

 nothing crowded — every class had 

 [)lenty of room ; yet there was none to 

 spare. The fiuit exhibit was well 

 placed in tlie centi^ of the hall and 

 well protected with railings. 



The fruit exhibit, consisting of ap- 

 )des, pears and grapes, was much larger 

 than I expected to see. All had been 

 judged the day before. Prizes had 

 been ofiered for exhibits of apples un- 

 der four heads : 1 st, ]ieck of Fall Ap- 

 j)les ; 2ud, peck of Winter Apples ; 

 yrd, collection of Fall Apples, named; 

 and 4th, col]e«tix)n of Winter Apples, 

 named. There were eight exhibits of 

 fall apples and ten of winter apples on 

 the table. The judges seemed to have 

 luiderstood the word " best " to signify 

 " largest," consequently in both these 

 sections the prizes had been all given 

 to the largest apples, while much bet- 

 ter varieties were on the table. This ! 



was particularly noticeable in the win- 

 ter section, where a peck of English 

 Golden Russets — a most excellent sam- 

 ple — had not received a piize ; while 

 tirst, second and third prizes had been 

 awarded to lots inferior in quality and 

 profitableness. 



The collection of Fall Apples con- 

 sisted of fourteen varieties, most of 

 them of unusual excellence, several of 

 which were varieties not often seen. 

 This lot, as well as the winter apples, 

 were all named ; but I could only re- 

 cognize St. Lawrence, Snow, Pumpkin 

 Sweet, Beaut}^ of Kent, and, probably, 

 the one named " Duchess" as being the 

 Duchess de Brabant. All the otheis 

 seemed to have been named for the 

 occasion. 



The collection of Winter Apples to 

 which had been awarded the tii'st prize 

 consisted of eighteen varieties, amongst 

 which I found R. I. Greening, Ameri- 

 can Golden Ru.sset, Northern Spy, 

 Wealthy, Canada Red, and Snow — all 

 remarkably good sjjecimens. Amongst 

 the remainder I found varieties named 

 Mcintosh Red, Lady Apple, Pomme 

 Grise, English Golden Russet, and 

 Porter, all good names, but the apples 

 were not there. This collection also 

 contained three seedlings of very infe- 

 rior quality. 



The second prize lot contained twen- 

 ty-one varieties : Canada Red, R. I. 

 Greening, Snow, Golden Russet, and 

 Ponmie Grise, were fair samples, and 

 true to name. Amongst the remainder 

 I found varieties named Pewaukee, 

 Porter, Haas and Rox. Russet — all in- 

 correctly. Most of the others were 

 seedlings of no merit. 



Pears — There were six exhibits, all 

 late A^arieties, only two of which were 

 named— Flemish Beauty (incorrectly) 

 and Duchess d'Angouleme. All the 

 samples shown were very fine speci- 

 mens. 



