The Canadian Horticulturist. 



257 



JUDGING FRUIT AT FAIRS. 



'di 



[his subject has been much discussed at the meetings of our Asso- 

 ciation, and much has been accomplished toward bringing about a 

 greater uniformity in the work of judging fruit in our province, by 

 ^^M^^L^ means of our catalogues of apples, pears and grapes, with values 

 ^J^^^m attached, which appear in our report of 1891. These will greatly 

 ^^^-— r-TP. assist judges in passing judgment upon general collections. In 

 the case of small collections of apples and pears for special uses, 

 as dessert or cooking, some further points will need special obser- 

 vation. 



Suppose, for example, there are entries made under the head of the best 

 five cooking apples, each variety will have an absolute value from one to ten. 

 according to our catalogue, as a cooking apple. In addition to this a ma.ximum 

 may be allowed of twenty marks for excellence of sample. In cooking apples 

 the size is very important, while for the dessert apple this will be of little or no 

 account. Indeed, too great a size is an objection rather than a merit in dessert 

 apples. These twenty marks might be distributed as follows : 



Cooking Fcrpo.se.s. 



Size 8 



Color 2 



Form 4 



cleanness 6 



Dessert PrRPOsEs. 



Size 



Color 



Form .... 

 Cleanness 



20 20 



Add these twenty marks to the maximum value for cooking, which was ten, 

 and we have a total of thirty marks possible for each plate. No marks have 

 been allowed for size under the head of dessert purposes, because a small apple 

 is really more desirable for this purpose than a large one, as for example, the 

 Lady apple which is so popular. If, however, the sample shown under this head 

 is too large to be desirable, a maximum of say two points might be taken from 

 the total on this account. 



It must be understood that we do not give these numbers as a basis for 

 judgment, as having passed the approval of our Association, but simply on our 

 own responsibility, in order to bring out the criticism of our readers, and thus 

 eventually arrive at some uniform basis. 



Now, regarding plates of single varieties ; what points are needed ? If the 

 purpose is specified as cooking or dessert, then, perhaps, the scale just given might 

 be used, but if no purpose is mentioned, the absolute value, as found in our 

 catalogue, would need to be omitted ; and the twenty points would be the highest 

 possible number for any one plate. 



In judging melons the quality is always important, and, therefore, it will be 

 necessary to cut them, in order to arrive at any proper conclusion. 



