DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. 481 



find in many gardens at tlie present day, plants bearing eggs 

 tliat rival the joint efforts of the Chittagong and Shanghae 

 shrubs, producing an esculent that is all oyster and no shell, 

 vines rejoicing in mammoth custards, and we can scarcely travel 

 upon any of our railroads, without having thrust in our faces 

 " ready made thimbles " that grow on trees. But, notwitlistand- 

 ing the certain and sure remuneration and fame, that always 

 attends the discoverer of any thing new in science, arts or agri- 

 culture, no Yankee has yet appeared upon the stage, of sufficient 

 cuteness to ingraft into our soil any banj^an tree, that in this 

 climate will daily supply us with hot rolls for our breakfast. 

 Despairing then for the present, of receiving this luxury imme- 

 diately from the ground itself, and being aware that we are now, 

 (as we ever have been since the day king Alfred made so signal 

 a failure in the baking business,) thrown upon the tender mercies 

 of our wives and daughters for our supply of this article, and 

 fearing lest the aforesaid wives and daughters, becoming weary 

 of well doing, and infected with some of the labor-saving notions 

 so prevalent at the present day, would fall into the habit of 

 making up bread with some of the one thousand and one patent 

 bread-making nostrums that are advertised daily in our newspa- 

 pers, the trustees of this society have offered premiums " for the 

 best home-made wheaten bread made with yeast," &c., and by 

 offering such premiums, the trustees have acted with a shrewd- 

 ness that would have done credit to those inhabiting a locality 

 farther down east than Middlesex county ; for in this practical 

 age, they, (unpoetically perhaps,) considering the fabrication of 

 good bread one of the qualifications of a good wife, by offering 

 premiums on the former, not only secure perfection in its man- 

 ufacture, but provide the community with the latter without a 

 specific premium therefor. Taking this view of the question, 

 your committee being impressed with the high and respon- 

 sible nature of the trust reposed in them, and that their verdict 

 might have more important and permanent results than the 

 mere settlement of the question as to the respective merits and 

 demerits of two adjoining loaves of bread, entered upon their 

 duty with all the solemnity that so grave a subject demanded, 

 and made a full and careful examination of all the specimens 

 presented. 



Your committee, in conclusion, request that the applicants 



