Splendid Exhibits,

which would in ordinary circumstances have secured a place, were left out. Most of the first prize dishes of apples, peaches, apricots, and nectarines were grown from pips or stones, and these superb sorts when distributed will form a valuable addition to those already in cultivation in other parts of the Colony. All the fruit exhibited is grown on standard trees in the open air, and evidently without the slightest pretence to cultivation, except the grape, which is trained on pug (mud) walls.

At Alexandra this year I visited the principal growers, inspected their orchards, and was amazed to see the heavy crops of fine-coloured fruits of plums and peaches. Grapes and walnuts were also looking well. One place I visited, the break winds were formed with apricots and peaches growing ten or twelve feet high or more, and bearing abundantly. The plants were grown from the stone, and allowed to grow up at their own sweet will, without any transplanting or attention whatever. Any one who has visited this part of Otago when the strawberries are ripe cannot fail to be struck with the wonderful fertility of the soil. Just think of it. I saw a plot of land containing nearly