1922.] Lessons of the Imperial Fruit Show, 1921. 



659 



5 p.m. or 6 p.m. according to the season, with 1 hour, 1\ hours, 

 and sometimes 2 hours for dinner. In winter the working day is 

 from dawn to dusk with an hour's interval. Frequently a half 

 holiday is given on Saturdays and in many instances farmers 

 are allowing 14 days' holiday each year. Taking an average 

 throughout the country, the ploughman's working week is 

 about 50 hours besides about 7 hours' stable work, which shows 

 an average reduction of about 5 hours a week compared with 

 pre-war working hours. Cattlemen's hours vary according to 

 the number of stock and the period of the year. The Eeport 

 states that w^hen the cattle are under cover the usual hours are 

 about 9-10 per day in addition to Sunday duty. It is not 

 possible to fix the working hours of shepherds, which vary from 

 a few hours daily supervision of the flocks when all conditions 

 are favourable, to 12 hours and upwards per day during lamb- 

 ing, dipping and clipping time or during periods of disease. 

 The hours of orramen and permanent women workers are 

 usually the same as those of the ploughmen, except that they 

 have no stable work. At present, however, there appears to be 

 n general tendency to increase the length of the working day. 



****** 



LESSONS OF THE IMPERIAL FRUIT 



SHOW, 192L 



In view of the near approach of the 1922 Imperial Fruit 

 Show the moment is opportune for a short account of the 

 score-card marking by the Judges of the exhibits submitted at 

 the Show last year, in order that intending competitors may 

 have an opportunity of studying the various points before they 

 pack their produce for competition at the Show this year. 



The Schedule in 1921 was drawn up to meet the needs of 

 the commercial grower : but while the rules were so framed as 

 to induce the grower to exhibit packages of fruit similar to 

 those ordinarily sent to the market, it was naturally expected 

 that the sample of fruit and the manner of presentation would 

 be above the average. The Show then was important as an 

 educational movement tending to improve the existing methods 

 of grading and packing fruit for the market. 



It must be remembered that the grower seldom sees his 

 produce in the market, and his success in grading and packing 

 can only be judged by him from the prices which he receives 

 for tlie same fruit presented in different ways. This method 



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