CO

[Class IT.

GIT, SEEDS AXD CARES—HOrS—DRIED FRUIT AND SEEDS.

especial notice, and was awarded Honourable Mention.The seed is recommended on account of its cheapness,being usually thrown away as refuse by the cotton manu-facturers; it is extensively used as a cattle food, inan unprepared state, in various parts of the tropicalworld, and to a limited extent in England; but its successis doubtful, and in the shape of oil-cake it has possiblynot yet been fully tested. Several samples of linseed-cakefrom Yorkshire are exhibited, some of which are betterthan ever appear in the London market: they are, how-ever, inferior to the American . Honorary Mention ismade of the collection exhibited by T. Peterson (GO,p. 204), consisting of samples manufactured by GeorgeSpurr of Boston. John Wood of Hull, Fea of Boston ,Payne of Hull, Thirsk , juti., of Beverley.

2. British East Indies. —Flax is most extensivelycultivated, especially in the northern province of India ,but chiefly, if not wholly, for the oil expressed from theseed ; the oil-cake, as a manufactured article, beingunknown. Poppy-cake is, however, occasionally manu-factured, and a specimen (of inferior description) is exhi-bited.

3. Canada exhibits excellent linseed; and the eameline-seed of J. Fisher (59, p. 963) is considered worthy ofHonourable Mention.

4. Belgium exhibits good oil-cakes of various kinds.Honourable Mention is made of the rapeseed-cake exhi-bited by Yercruysse, Brothers (91, p. 11*54), and ofthe linseed-cake of J. L. Yercauteren (82, p. 1154).

5. Hamburgh. —The rapeseed-cake of J. Peterson(5, p. 1136) deserves Honourable Mention.

6. Austria, the Netherlands, Lubeck, and Egypt all exhibit, more or less, oil-cake of fair quality.

7. Sardinia exhibits very" good oil-cake of Girardi,Brothers (5, p. 1302), considered worthy of Honour-able Mention. (Mentioned also by Jury of Class IV.)

^8. Russia sends various good samples of linseed andsesamum; also of rape-seed, of which the sample ex-hibited by E. Karnvitoii (31, p. 1367) is deserving ofHonourable Mention.

9. United States of America. —J. Bridge of NewYork (546), and Lee and Co., of Boston (530, p. 1467\both exhibit very fine oil-cake, worthy of HonourableMention. These are much finer samples than usuallyreach the English market from America .

A. TUI.— Hops.

The best hops are produced in England, and arc chieflycultivated in Kent and Sussex; they are also grown to alimited extent in Surrey, Essex, Suffolk, Herefordshire ,Worcestershire, and Staffordshire , the soil and climate ofeach district giving a peculiar character to the crop. Onthe continent of Europe hops have been extensively cul-tivated, but never to perfection, the flowers having gene-rally a rank smell and flavour. The plant has also beenintroduced into Canada , Van Diemen’s Land, and on theHimalaya mountains, with various success. The exhi-bition is, on the whole, good.

1. Great Britain . — A Prize Medal has been awardedto J. M. Paine, for his Farnham Golding’s hops (62,p. 204), grown on the phosphoric marl. These are fullyripe, and of fine flavour. The soil of this district is thevery finest for the production of hops, but the growersoften pull them too green. A Prize Medal is alsoawarded to Richardson and Sons for their collection (59,p. 204', in which the Gravesend hill are fine and wellflavoured: and both the Jones’ and Worcester are worthyof notice. 1L Golding’s hops (63, p. 204) are consi-dered worthy of Honourable Mention.

2. Canada sends the best hops that have ever beenimported from that country, and which, had they less ofthe “currant-leaf” flavour, would fetch a good price inour market. The samples of B. Smith (64, p. 963), ofStanstead, have been awarded a Prize Medal, and thatof Thomas Dawes and Sons (65) considered worthy ofHonourable Mention.

3. Van Diemen’s Land has grown hops for someyears, and, it has been said, with success : but the speci-mens now exhibited are hardly recognisable, perhaps ,

owing to defects in the packing, or accident during thevoyage.

4. Belgium exhibits fair hops and of several varieties;these rank next to the Canadian in point of flavour. Thebest are the Poperinghe hops exhibited by L. Dec.rysk( 63, p. 1153), Widow L. Dequidt (64, p. 1153), Madamevan Meries (65, p. 1153), which are severally consideredworth of Honourable Mention.

5. Grand Duchy of Hesse.— The Mayntz hops are ofgood flavour, well harvested, though rather small, andhave been awarded a Prize Medal; the exhibitors areStein and Schroder (81, p. 1129). Some Strasbourg hops are also good, resembling Golding’s.

6. Russia sends a sample of unripe hops, better thanusual, and which, were they sufficiently ripened, wouldprobably rank next to the English in quality. Thisappears to be a common imported variety of the English “grape hop,” and is from Count Koucheleff (32,p. 1363) :—it deserves Honourable Mention.

B.—Dried Fruit and Seeds.

The series of dried fruits is very extensive, and thearticles generally excellent in quality. Little novelty,either in product or import, is remarked, and none ofinvention in preservation. The divisions of this Sub-class (13.), proposed by the Royal Commissioners, arenot here retained, the articles being considered in theaggregate under each exhibiting country. Those pre-served in sugar have been referred to another Jury.(Class XXTX.)

1. Great Britain . — Fortxum, Mason, and Co.’scollection of dried fruits, seeds, and other articles usedfor dessert (55), claims the first place, and has beenawarded a Prize Medal. Amongst many samples of thefinest fruits are others of greater or less demand in theEnglish market; as,*—the Sapueaya, Souari, and Brazil nuts, cashew, jujube, litchi, hickory, pinus ccmbra, &c.Vanilla, nutmegs, Taffilah and Syrian dates, &c. JohnClemens (56, p. 204) lias been awarded a Prize Medalfor magnificent raisins i Malaga ) and Jordan almonds.R. and C. Faulkner (54, p. 204), also, have been awardeda Prize Medal for their preserved fruits in bottles, &c.,which, though not dried, can only he introduced in thisclass. Copland, Barnes, and Co.’s collection of fruits(11, p. 201) deserves Honourable Mention. Batty andFeast also exhibit good fruits.

2. Ionian Islands.— Dried currants are exhibitedfrom Cephalonia , by Mavroianni, equal to the Zantecurrants.

3. East Indies. —Pickled fruits of the “ durion,” aproduction of the Straits of Malacca , are exhibited, butno other preserved fruits, except tamarinds, which wereextremely good, and some fine candied fruit of the CEgleMarmelos.

4. Ceylon exhibits tamarinds and myrobalans (thealmond-like kernel of the nut of a terminalia); Java,tamarinds.

5. From the West Indian Islands there are fruits,entire, of the Brazil nut (Bertliolktici excelsa ), from Tri-nidad ; tamarinds and cashew nuts from Barbadof.s.Demarara sends excellent fresh souari (butter nuts),dry bananas in slices, sweet but very poor; the monkey-pot fruit entire; limes: and bilimbi fruit preserved inpickle.

6. Van Diemen’s Land exhibits good dried applesgrown in the colony.

7. Cape of Good Hope . —A Prize Medal has beenawarded to the fine collection of dried fruits from theCape Colony exhibited by R. Clarence (54, p. 952); ofthese the most remarkable are good sugary pudding rai-sins, and a small black kind from the Constantia grape ;flat dried pears, good; soft-shelled white-meated walnutsof great merit; good but flavourless almonds with for-midable shells, and dried sliced peaches and apricots.

8. France. — The contribution is small from this coun-try, except of fruits preserved with sugar.

9. Wurtemberg. — Dried fruits for home consumption,and apparentl)’ much appreciated in the country, are ex-hibited ; such as bilberries preserved in great quantities,