CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2835, 29 February 1888, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

Horticultural Exhibitions and Fruit Growing.

Sib.—Seeing two letters touching on matters Rorticulturalg|i your issue of Monday last, a wiji on the • subject from me may possibly not be out of place, I quite agree with ■ r would he Exhibitor," in his suggested , method of showing plums. A prize should be offered for the best " three dessert plums, and also i for the best three culinary plums; but r when he says, "ouly one. of which i should he a gage," I must protest. We know that the ripe greengage- is a • model of merit, and the nearer the plum comes to it in flavour the more • perfect it will he, and where are we to I look for these desired qualities but in • the gage family—in fact there isa ; plum of later introduction (Coes golden i drop), which oftimes, at English shows, takes the eye of the judge "in. ' preference to the greengage.; it is larger in size, and its color comes before green in the standard for judging plums. Paragraph 4 of the Crystal. Palace Standard reads:— " Size, large; color,, black first, amber second, green last; form, round first, oval second." It goes on," tta only points in which the greengag<ftn be beaten are, size and colour, and until we get one as rich in flavour, larger, orrnorepreferablecolor,ourold and valued favorite will be the modeU for all others." Exhibitors must beaC in mind that desert plums, when - shown, must he ripe and wellcoloured, not so with culinary varieties, it is not imperative that they he ripe, always provided they are well grown varieties. With regard to your correspondents' remarks on apples, I think he is a little astray. It must be borno iii mind that all dessert "fruit when shown must be ripe; so that it would almost be a matter of impossibility to exhibit early : apples alongside late keeping ones in thorough - . show condition. The standard says': "Alldessert exhibits must be ripe, eat firm but tender, bruise to a soft melting pulp, eat short, crisp, and juicy. The flavor should be highly aromatic, sweet, with sufficienkcid to give a lively relief to the smjaiess, and the core should he snwll, the form globular, the skin thin and clear, - and of two colors or shades; size medium, and keep well." For "example, golden pippin. The keeping qualities are most important, whether in a. dessert or culinary apple, . quite ready to admit that it is a great *' difficulty to get apples', and plums judged so as to give universal satisfaction so long aa our Horticultural Society's means will not. allow them to extend their schedule. At the same time, I am confident a barrier, hitherto insurmountable,, would be overcome if the Society could see its .way clear to have printed and distributed free to all its members, the-standard for judging fruit, as used in England, The object is to show exhibitors what * they should aim at in all competitions and point to judges what they should select. MrJ.O. Alpass'sAtioii re organising a 'f Fruit Gfcs' Association, ,l seenis to me a very good one, and his remarks are very opportune and apropos. Such a Society need not be expensive or cumbersome, and a great amount of information - maybysuohmeans be disbursed, ft

tbo mutual benefit of its members. The most practical way of carrying Mr Alpass' suggestion into effect, would be for him to call a meeting by advertisement of all those interested. I am, etc., Hortus,