Mataura Horticultural Show.

Southland Times, Issue 10963, 14 February 1907, Page 4

Mataura Horticultural Show.

A GENERAL NOTICE. Tho Slataura Horticultural Society held thetr annual ahow yesterday in their hall at Mataura. Tha. weather was delightfully fine, the entries large,, and the show a decided success. The fruit, flow- 1 ers, and .vegetables were displayed in the' Society’s own building, and the homo in-1 duatriea section in a smell hall near by.'f The season has bot been ol the kindest, | owing to the long absence ot rain, and | it would therefore be unreasonable to expect "tip top" quality in all clti.se. ol exhibits. The flowers particularly showed the effects ol the scorching to which they had been subjected, but on the whole the exhibitors had no cause to be ashamed. The rosea were, on tha whole, only (air, the effect of the dry season being noticeable. The best entries wero those submitted by Miss Townley, Mrs Clements, end Mrs Dickie. The cut flowers were perhaps better, though uothlug of outstanding merit was forward. Mrs A. Dickie showed «. nice group of blooms. The classes for sweet peas were well filled, and the quality, taken all round, was good, though there uicrei many crushed samples. Mr It. A. Stenhouse was the most successful exhibitor in these varieties, his collection being a very fair one indeed. The pansy classes were not remarkable for competition, and the quality was rather indifferent. Mr A. Blandford won with soma of medium size and appearance. Mrs A. M. Shanks and Mr A. Blandford -divided the honour, fairly evenly in pieotees and carnations, both showing some very good samples. The gladioli formed a largo class, and some good quality was seen. The best were shown by Mrs Dickie, w|ho secured the red ticket. In dianthii Mrs Shanks;, won, without having to meet any serious competition. Mrs A. Dickie won in the geranium classes, and hgain in the begonias, showing fair quality in each. Mr T. McAndrew exhibited soma nice phlox drummondi, and deserved hi. award. The same exhibitor was also to the fore with his exhibit of greenhouse plants, and •In a similar class a pot tuschia exhibited by Mrs Winning was favourably noticed. Mr Blandford showed some fine French mart golds', and Mr A. Balneaves led up with a nice group of Africans. The show of pot plants was

not one of very big'll quality, the season not having been too favourable. The balsams entered by Mr Balneaves were perhaps an exception to the rule. Two pots of musk, shown, by Miss Cissy 131ampied, were admirably grown and nicely trained. The competition in the floral designs, bouquets, wreaths, buttonholes, etc., was very keen. The bulk of the prizes were annexed by Miss McKay, whose exhibits contained a liberal proportion of phlox, maidenhair, stock, and gyspholl. The epergne class, although limited to two competitors, was a capital one. Mrs Winning added another first to her list, and Mrs Fenny secured a very good second. The buttonhole competition was won by Miss McGowan with a tempting entry, and Miss Elsie Winning secure*! a first iui a similar classThe shower bouquet shown by Mrs Thorn was one of the best we have soerj at any show. It was a most artistic and effective arrangement of lilies, maidenhair, and gyspholi. Two baskets of dowers were showm by Mrs Winning and Mrs A. Dickie, who were awarded first and second respectively. Mrs Winning's basket was undoubtedly the better, the assortment of roses, sweet pens, maidenhair, lilies, and phlox, showing to more advantage that Mrs Dickie’s geraniums and asparagus. The decorated parasol shown by Miss Adams deserves favourable notice, the combination of marigolds and gyspholi being artistic. The decorated tables, arranged by Miss D. Winning, were excellent. The first was a very pretty arrangement of gyspholi, sweet peas. and pelargoniums. Miss Winning also showed It, prettily decorated mantel, but there was just a suspicion of over decoration. The hall stand shown by Mrs Winning was as pretty as could be desired. The display of fruit and vegetables was, generally speaking, a good one. though the finer fruits. »uch as plums and grapes, were poorly represented. The Mataura show is always strong' in apples, and • oma excellent exhibits were again forward. The principal winners In. the apple classes were Messrs A. Dickie, A, G. dementi, W. P. Thorn, Miss Townley, and Mrs D. McGowan. Mrs Dickie won the red ticket for a collection of fruits, which gav© a, very fair standard of quality all round. The vegetable section was well filled with good looking products of the field. The majority of the prizes wore am. ’ ---vs C. .T.

Humphries and H. Knottier. Field crops wore not greatly in evidence, hut some izood Stull was shown by Messrs Prydo and Dickie, and one first prize wont to the scholars of the Brydone school, for heads of oats. The house wives section, which gave ample scope for competition in jellies, jams, butter and cookery, was particularly strong- The principal winner? in jams and jellies Mesdames A. Craig. H. Kay, Sherwood. H. Brown, Penny, and Glllanders. and Misses N. Clark M. McGowan. and -X. Diokis. Xu I,utter an 3 baking the winners of best prizes were Mcsdaiue? *l. Mitchell. M. Dickie and Misses McGowan and Annie Allison. The hom a industries section was most Interesting, and both in quality and variety was equal to anything we have seen. The articles, artistic and useful, showed that a great deni of lime and care had been expended in their production. The attendance yesterday was large, the young people especially being admitted freely. The audience was entertained with selections from an orchestra, and at intervals a gramaphone tinkled nut sundry items. The Society has e'idently no reason to be dissatisfied with the season's recSrH.