14 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



t 



small-fruits and vegetables, and being able to fertilize it 

 much cheaper than they can theirs, the gardener of Plymouth 

 County has the advantage. 



In addition to cheap lands and cheap fertilizers, our county 

 stands high in educational facilities, having a well-kept pub- 

 lic school in every little village. Free public libraries are 

 scattered over the county ; and the numerous church-spires 

 tell of a higher, a religious education. 



The schoolhouse, the library, and the church lift the people 

 to a high social position, the advantage of which is probably 

 never so fully realized as when a man takes his family into a 

 Western wilderness, thinking to better their condition. 



The time is rapidly approaching when this county will be 

 the garden of the neighboring cities : already the work has 

 commenced ; and, as success has crowned the efforts of 

 every intelligent gardener, our waste lands will soon become 

 gardens. 



Taking this view of our county, I am glad that the Board 

 has consented to come among us to enlighten us upon sub- 

 jects which so deeply concern our welfare. 



I trust that the advanced ideas that may be promulgated 

 at this meeting may not fall on barren soil, but that they 

 may reach minds able to comprehend their value, and to 

 realize the importance of putting them into practical use. 



Capt. John B. Moore of Concord was then introduced, 

 ' who read the following paper : — 



ROOT AND VEGETABLE CULTURE. 



BY JOHN B. MOORE. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen, — The secretary of 

 this Board informed me by letter that I had been selected to 

 present the subject of root and vegetable culture for your con- 

 sideration, and blandly added, " Tell them what you know 

 about it." If he had said, " Tell them how little you know 

 upon this subject, and then stop," no doubt I could have made 

 this paper somewhat shorter. 



But this brings to my mind the fact of how little we know 

 about many phases of plant-growth, and what a vast field 



