exhibited at the Societi/^s Meeting, 1882. 597 
■this year in a district which should yield large supplies of this commodity, 
we feel disappointed that the exhibits in general were not of a higher class 
quality. 
John Eastty. 
James Hcdsox. 
Fkuit and Vegetables. 
The Classes for minor Farm-products would have been dis- 
hearteninff did not one remember that the function of the 
Society is almost as much to ascertain deficiencies as it is to 
reward successful exertions. At the lowest estimate it cannot 
be said that farm fruit and vegetables showed worse at Reading 
than did classes for dairy cattle at Carlisle and Derby. Yet the 
latter have grown, by 1882, into a really fine display, in which 
nearly all the milk-breeds had characteristic specimens ; and it 
may be hoped that, before 1884, growers of fruit and vegetables 
will have learned that the knowledge how to show their produce 
to advantage is more than half the road to profit. The very best 
of such perishable wares can be rendered unsightly, and made 
unsaleable, by neglect of the common precautions taken by any 
Covent Garden fruiterer. Not merely were there but few 
entries (only sixteen of fruit for thirty-two prizes, and eighteen 
of vegetables for thirty prizes), but of the entries sent, nearly 
half came from one grower. And, of his few rivals, more than 
one " lumped " his lot of fruit or roots down, upon the Show- 
bench, with less attention to appearances than a costermonger 
upon the ground of a race-gathering, tt may be questioned if the 
Society be right in expecting that large quantities of soft fruits 
can be kept from fermenting and spoiling in a four-day Show. 
Except some red currants, and a box of well-kept specimens of 
the Hambledon Deux-ans apple, hardly one entry was set out 
to advantage ; whilst the Class for a " Collection of Packages 
suitable for the foregoing sorts of Fruit," — which one might have 
supposed would have tempted tin-box, jar, punnett, and basket- 
makers to advertise their wares cheaply, — had not a single entry 
of any kind. Probably it will be best to allow the growers 
of soft fruit — raspberries and strawberries — to exhibit in 
(llb.-baskets or glass jars. But fermentation, and damage from 
journeying, will always keep the prizes in these classes within 
the district in which the Show is held ; unless the Society allows 
any growers (being bona fide growers) to exhibit their produce in 
a manufactured state. The peas sent were wofullv old, and the 
potatoes greened by the sun ; and, altogether, the very nice tent, 
•ippropriated to this display, was not encouraging except as 
indicating what a great deal the Society has yet to do in an 
increasingly important department. It does not seem desirable 
