56 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



FRUIT AT OUR LOCAL EXHIBITIONS. 



BY J. n. WISMER, PORT ELGIN, ONT. 



Any one interested in the fruit de- 

 pai'tment of our Township Fall Shows 

 cannot but notice the errors so com- 

 mon in naming the diiferent varieties of 

 apples, pears, etc. Especially preva- 

 lent is this fault among our fruit-grow- 

 ing farmers — some of whom are rather 

 extensively engaged in this bi-anch of 

 their occupation — and I believe I am 

 btit giving the opinion of all who are 

 in the habit of judging at our local ex- 

 hibitions, when I say that not one farm- 

 er in twenty is able to name correctly 

 all the fruit he grows. I have often 

 heard bitter and loud complaints from 

 exhibitors against judges, charging 

 them with partiality and incompetence 

 because their " extra fine " specimens 

 were awarded no premium, w^ile in the 

 same class entries of inferior fruit took 

 all the prizes, simply because the exhib- 

 itor in the latter case complied with the 

 prize list in naming his fruit correctly, 

 while the former did not. 



At an exhibition last fall, where I 

 was requested to act as judge, I could 

 not, according to the ]n-ize list, award a 

 single prize in " collections," although 

 there were seven enti'ies. This state of 

 afiairs is very annoying and unsatisfac- 

 tory to judges as well as exhibitors, and 

 has been a fruitful source of sti'ife and 

 contention, causing a rapid falling ofi" of 

 the number of fruit exhibits from year 

 to year in many of our local shows. 



To remedy this, all fruit growers, and 

 exhibitors especially, should see that 

 they know by name what they gi'ow, 

 and in cases of doubt should refer to 

 their nearest authority in this line, or, 

 do as I have done, send a sample peck 

 or half bushel (express charges prepaid) 

 to our obliging President, who is said 

 to be the best authority in the Province. 

 I submit this, believing that all who 

 know him will confirm the statements 

 herein contained. 



Seedling Peach Trees. — Mr. J. B. Pierce 

 maintains before the Horticultural As- 

 sociation of Pennsylvania that it pays 

 best in cold sections to plant seedling 

 peach trees, because they are hardier 

 than budded kinds. 



Our experience does not bear this 

 out. We have over 2,000 budded and 

 several hundred seedling peach trees in 

 our orchard, and we get crops as often 

 from such budded kinds as Eaidy 

 Purple, Hale's Early, Alexander and 

 Louise, as from the seedlings ; and 

 when there does occur a full crop seed- 

 lings are unsalable. Other kinds are 

 more tender, as, for instance. Early and 

 Late Crawford, Old Mixon, Smock, &c. 

 If we had any peach trees native to our 

 climate it would be well to endeavour 

 to improve them by extended experi- 

 ment, and perhaps our Experiment 

 Station may further acclimatize some of 

 the hardier varieties ; but to advise 

 any fruit grower to plant an orchard of 

 natural fruit, in these days of improved 

 varieties, is absurd. 



condensed reports of fruit. 

 Brighton, Moore's Eahly and 

 "WoRDEN Grapes. — Mr. J. B. Burk, 



Brougham, writes : — My Brighton and 

 Moore's Early fi-uited last year. The 

 fruit of the former is delicious, much 

 superior to Moore's Early, and about 

 one week later. No grape pleases me 

 so well as the Worden. It is a heavy 

 ci'opper, and it ripens soon after Moore^s 

 Early, about the first or second week 

 in September. Tlie quality is superior 

 to the Concord. True, its fruit drops 

 if allowed to hang too long, but if 

 picked as soon as it is ripe it will cling 

 to the stem as well as the Concord. 



The Duchess of Oldenburgh. — 

 Mr. S. Roy, Berlin, sends a photograph 

 of one of his trees of this variety, borne 

 down with an enormous ci'op of ripen- 

 ing fruit ; but which he thinks has now 

 borne to its last crop. He says : — 



