206 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Floral Edition. 



A portion of an exhibit of fruit and vegetables arranged by tiie Central Experimental Farm, 



Ottawa. 



"dessert," "cooking," "export," or 

 "home market." 



Third. — Color is of greatest import- 

 ance as a means of appealing to the 

 eye of the consumer. It is of great im- 

 portance in commercial packages, and 

 in plate competitions color wins, other 

 things being equal. In green or yel- 

 low varieties of fruit, such as Eeine 

 Claude plum or Bartlett pear, the color 

 expresses the quality, but in red varie- 

 ties such is by no means the case. The 

 poorest Mcintosh apple I ever tasted 

 was beautifully colored. 



Color is more important in dessert 

 varieties than in cooking sorts, and is 

 perhaps even more important in som.e 

 of the near-dessert commercial varie-i 

 ties, such as Baldwin apple and El- 

 berta peach. These varieties are ex- 

 tensively grown, and color helps more 

 to sell them than does their quality. 

 Uniformity. 



Fourth. — Uniformity is of the great- 

 est importance in commercial pack- 

 ages, and is scarcely less so in the 

 ease of those varieties whioh most 

 commonly go into commercial pack- 

 ages. Especially is it important with 

 those varieties commonly packed in 

 boxes. Dessert Spies, for instance, 

 should be wrapped and packed in 

 boxes, and should be uniform in form, 

 in size, and in color. Large sizes of 

 Northern Spy, on the other hand, are 

 less desirable as dessert apples and are 

 less likely to go into boxes. In a 

 general way, there is not the same ne- 

 cessity for uniformity in barrel stock 

 as in boxes. (In order to avoid being 

 misunderstood on this point, I should 

 like to point out incidentally that most 

 of our barrelled apples have too much 

 variation in size and color.) 



Uniformity covers form, size and 

 color, and any experienced judge can 

 vouch for the rarity of plate exhibits 

 which show good uniformity in ail 

 three characteristics. This is the 

 stumbling block of most exhibitors. I 

 should be inclined to put more em- 

 phasis on uniformity than on any other 

 one point in the score card. 



Fifth.— Quality is detected partly by 

 color, partly by aroma, partly by tex- 

 ture, and partly by the degree of ma- 

 turity. The degree of maturity and 

 the texture can be detected by the 

 "feel," and also by the eye. It is not 

 necessary to shove one 's thumb into an 

 apple or peach to know if it is ripe. A 

 gentle pressure between the fingei's 

 and the palm of the hand will deter- 

 mine the matter very accurately, after 

 a little practice. 



Quality also bears an important re- 

 lation to size. A large Ben Davis is 

 likely to be of better quality than a 

 small one, because the texture is likely 

 to be more open. Conversely, a large 

 Spy is likely to lack firmness and crisp- 

 ness because of the coarse texture. 



Texture may vary exceedingly with- 

 in the variety. I have handled Duchess 

 pears which were as fine-grained and 

 smooth to the touch as a Bartlett. The 

 best example I can give of the extent 

 to which texture and quality can be 

 determined by touch is in the Sheldon 

 pear. A good Sheldon feels literally 

 "as fine as silk." 



Sixth. — Soundness is usually defined 

 as "freedom from blemishes." Ac- 

 cording to the Inspection and Sales 

 Act, a blemish is an imperfection seri- 

 ous enough ' ' to cause material waste. ' ' 

 In the fruit show, a blemish is any im- 

 perfection which would lessen the sale 



value of the fruit. A limb-rub or an 

 insect injury may heal over so per- 

 fectly as not to lessen in any way the 

 keeping quality of the fruit, and the 

 only detriment is to the appearance of 

 the specimen. A scab spot is not neces- 

 .sarily injurious, especially to fruit in- 

 tended for early use. I fail, however, 

 to see any other way of evaluating in- 

 juries such as these than to call them 

 blemishes. 



A worse type of blemish is a skin 

 puncture, and it is perhaps even more 

 common. Judges should cut heavily 

 ior any evidences of rough or careless 

 handling. Breaks in the skin and 

 bruises are caused by lack of care, and 

 lessen the value of the fruit for almost 

 any purpose. 



Under this heading reference should 

 also be made to the practice of polish- 

 ing, which unfortunately is becoming 

 so common in plate apples. I know of 

 no judges who favor polishing — in fact 

 all the best judges discriminate against 

 it — and perhaps the only remedy is for 

 exhibition authorities to adopt a de- 

 finite prohibitory rule. In plate fruit, 

 all specimens should appear in their 

 natural condition, and with the bloom 

 on. In most cases there is quite a wide 

 margin between simply removing dust 

 or spray and actual polishing. 



Polishing may be allowed in 

 "cones" and "pyramids," because 

 these are purely display exhibits, such 

 as a grocer would make use of for ad- 

 vertising purposes. 



Worm injuries are considered seri- 

 ous blemishes, so much so that at the 

 better shows exhibits are frequently 

 disqualified on account of them. No 

 apple showing worm injury should be 

 allowed to win a place at the Canadian 

 National or at the November show in 

 Toronto. The highest class apple show 

 in Ontario is at Norfolk County Fall 

 Fair, and a wormy apple there is a 

 rarity. 



Another frequent blemish is caused 

 by the loss of the stem in picking or 

 handling. If the stem is simply bro- 

 ken off, no real harm may be done, al- 

 though in apples and pears the stem 

 should always be present, as it is some- 

 times an important work of identifica- 

 tion. If, hoAvever, the loss of the stem 

 results in breaking the skin, the fruit 

 is blemished, because of the liability of 

 decay. Such injuries are frequently as 

 bad as worm holes, and should be 

 penalized accordingly. 



In conclusion, I should like to em- 

 phasize the importance of care in pick- 

 ing and handling exhibition specimens. 

 One cannot be too careful. 



As to uniformity, select specimens as 

 nearlj' alike as possible in form, size, 

 and color. It is better that all the 

 specimens on one plate should be a 

 little off type than that the type should 

 vary. 



