A GREAT FRUIT SHOW.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5455, 6 January 1896, Page 3

A GREAT FRUIT SHOW.

English journals speak in the highest praise of the fruit show held, this autumn, at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham. ,It. was opened by the sheriffs of London, in state, on Sept. 26, and was considered to be the most magnificent display of fruit ever brought together in that country, and affording their Continental nei&hbtfura ; anrl colonial subjects a spectacle difficult t<> find outside "the three kingdoms. This show was. the second of its kind held at the Crystal Palace, and its great success was in some degree attribi;table to the favourable conditions of fruit culture during the later summer months. There were no fewer than 180 competitors, whilst the individual entries in the competitive 'classes, were more numerous by 500 than they we're the previous season. Exhibits came from nearly every English county, while Scotland and Wales were also represented. Notwithstanding her notoriously fickle climate, Great Britain can {occasionally, in an exceptionally fine season, produce, many kinds of fruits equal in size, colour, and flavoixr to those grown in any part of the world. The great f eatiu-e of this show was the immense display of. apples, which were, it is stated, of exceptional quality a*id colour.

Comparisons were made between the samples of British-grown apples and those imported, and the conclusion come to was that, no matter whence the latter . came, they were inferior to those shown at the Palace. It appears that of late years great improvements have been made in the cultivation of the hardier fruits in the mother country, the results being evidenced at this grand show.

In looking over the varieties of apples exhibited, one is struck (says a writer" in the Australasian) with the number of kinds not common in this colony — in fact, some altogether unknown — while on the other hand some of our best dessert sorts, such as Ribston .Pippin and Cox's Orange Pippin, were found in nearly every collection. King of the Pippins and American Mother .were also frequently seen in the dessert classes. In cooking apples we notice.- .Beasgfood's Nonsuch.,. Eeklinville, jEmperor Alexander^ Warner's; ;King, :Co'x's. Pombna; and liprif iperby 7 * as -.occurring most" frequently. Six dessert pears most frequently shown were Pitmaston Duchess, Marie Louise, Durondeau, Josephine de Malines, Souvenir de Congres,^ind Louis Bonne of Jersey.