The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



Floral Edition 



Vol. XXXVIII 



PETERBORO, SEPTEMBER, 1915 



No. 9 



Pointers for Exhibitors of Fruit 



IT is much to be desired that judges 

 and exhibitors should agree con- 

 cerning the requirements of exhi- 

 bition fruit. The responsibility of 

 passing judgment lies with the judge, 

 and his ideas are supposed to be cor- 

 rect. If he knows his business as he 

 should, exhibitors would do well to 

 study his decisions, and in case of 

 doubt to go to him personally for an 

 explanation. Judges make mistakes, 

 but no honest judge would refuse an 

 explanation or a discussion of the 

 point in question. It is with the idea 

 of bringing out helpful discussion that 

 I have been encouraged to deal in a 

 brief way with the requirements of ex- 

 hibition fruit, referring more particu- 

 larly to plate exhibits. 



The points usually embodied in a 

 score card for plates of apples, pears, 

 plums, and peaches are about as fol- 

 lows: 



1. Form 10 



2. Size 10 



3. Color 20 



4. Uniformity 20 



5. Quality 20 



6 Soundness 20 



100 

 The score card is seldom used in actual 

 judging, except in cases such as large 

 collections or displays, where the 

 points involved are too big or too 

 complex to be mentally compared. I 

 find the score card very useful, how- 

 ever, in explaining the qualities looked 

 for and in teaching the relative value 

 of each. 



The first point for an exhibitor to 

 bear in mind is that the judge's de- 

 cision is based on the exhibits as they 

 stand at the moment of judging. In 

 the case of an "export" class, the 

 judge does require, of course, to fore- 

 cast the probable "arriving condition" 

 of the fruit, but in ordinary open com- 

 petition the judge takes them as they 

 stand. This is one reason why south- 

 ern-grown exhibits so frequently win 

 at our early fall shows, or even at the 

 November show in Toronto. Northern- 

 grown winter apples, for instance, are 

 not at their best until perhaps Febru- 

 ary, and in competition at a September 

 or October show are handicapped by 



Prof. J. W. Crow, O.A.C., Guelph, Out. 



lack of maturity. They get a fairer 

 chance when the prize list offei's a 

 class for "export," and would show- 

 up still better if classes could be put o;: 

 covering "apples for Avinter storage." 



As most of our prize lists stand, the 

 greatest difficulty the judge has is to 

 give proper weight to all the various 

 uses or purposes which may be repre- 

 sented in a given class. 



A class of Northern Spy apples may 

 contain some plates which would rank 

 as "fancy dessert"; other plates 

 might rank as ' ' export dessert ' ' ; others 

 might more properly class as excellent 

 for "cold storage dessert," and still 

 others might, on account of large size 

 or over maturitj', take rank as any one 

 of several grades of "cooking" apples. 

 It is obviously difficult for a judge to 

 take into account all the range of pur- 

 poses for which the various exhibits 

 in the class might be used, but in the 

 ordinary variety list this is what he is 

 required to do. The moral for the ex- 

 hibitor is that where "varieties" are 

 shown, with no special provisions at- 



tached, the judge looks for variety 

 type. Other things being equal, the 

 plate wins which best represents the 

 variety. 



If the class is for "dessert" pur- 

 poses, quality counts, and size is much 

 less important. The degree of maturitj', 

 which is obviously very closely con- 

 nected with quality, also becomes of 

 much importance, and is considered 

 under the heading "Quality." 



In "cooking" classes, large size is 

 frequently very important. For a 

 hotel or restaurant trade, where the 

 cost of peeling becomes an item, good 

 size is most desirable because of the 

 time saved in peeling. 



The points covered in the score card 

 may be explained somewhat as fol- 

 lows: 



First. — Form is a varietal character 

 and is frequently one of the important 

 means of variety identification. 



Second.^ — Size is also a varietal char- 

 acter, but, as has been pointed out, 

 size requirements may vary according 

 as the class of fruit called for may be 



Harvesting the crop In the orchard of W. W. Plneo, Waterville, N.S. There are 9,000 trees Ul 

 this orchard, the average yield of which for some years has been 6,000 barrels a year. 



