Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1904-11-03
FarcicaI Judging Of Fruit.

The writer attended the Illinois
state fair last week, and while there
made cursory examination Of the
fruit in the horticultural exhibit. The
premiums had been already awarded.
and some of the results were start.
ling. The judge that awarded the pre-
miums for Bartlett pears had placed
the blue ribbon, which indicates first,
on a plate of Keiffers. The Keiffers
too had none of the appearance Of
Bartletts but were typical Keiffers. A
plate of Rome beauty took first prize
as York Iperial, though the Rome
beauty was typically Rome Beauty and
the York Imperials shown were typi.
cal York Imperials.
What inducement is there for fruit
men to show fruit il the judges Sc
lected are men almost ignorant of
the things they are supposed to judge.
1t would be far better to hire experts
at almost any price than to have such
results. OF the three judges chosen
only one, so far as the writer knows,
Is an expert on fruit. If all three
judged the same fruits the results
might not be so bad; but each one
was given a certain amount OF the
fruit to judge and made supreme So
far as that fruit was concerned. The
expert used the better part Of two
days in arriving at his decisions,
while the other men made their
awards in few hours.
Tho nrt A.
manner in which he was selected. The
member of the Illinois State Board of
Agriculture that had charge of the
fruit exhibit wrote to lawyer in the
city and asked him to select Judge
for the fruit. The lawyer chose the
fl uit man mentioned. 1t Is probable
that the same unscientific method was
used in the selection of the other
judges. 1t is surprising that they
got even one good man out OF three.
Such ineficiency in the manage
ment of the horticultural exhibition
cannot be too severely condemned
We have spent hundreds of thousands
of dollars in equipping a state fair
as an educational institution and
then the management Is turned over
to men entirely incapable of manag.
ing 1T in way to make the educa-
tional feature of any value. The ILL
nois State Board of Agriculture has
the names of numerous fruit growers
in this state any one of which knows
enough about apples and other fruit
to at least recognize the varieties
Why are they not appointed as judges?
The trouble with the Illinois State
Board of Agriculture seems to be that
a man is appointed as Superintendent
OF a department and then allowed a
free hand to work his own sweet will.
No matter how little he knows about
it, he is not interfered with, and it
would be considered discourteous to
even make suggestions to him. The
power Of the man Is supreme over all
the exhibitors. His opinion Is accept
ed and must be accepted against the
opinions of men that know a hundred
times more about the exhibit than
he does.
In the selection of judges for the
fruit there Is no reason why the State
Board of Agriculture should not ask
the advice of the State Horticultural
Society. When the International Live
Stock Exposition and the Worlds Fair
managers wanted live stock judges
they wrote to the different live stock
associations and asked them to name
a number of men who were able to
Judge in their breeds. Out of these
the managers of the two great shows
made their selection of judges and so
got men we'll equipped for Judging
There is no reason why a State Board
of Agriculture should not ask the
State Horticultural Society to name
men capable of Judging the different
kinds Of fruit. 1t would be far better
than writing to a local lawyer and
requesting that he pick out a man to
act as judge on fruit exhibit.-Far-
mer's Review.