114 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ducts of the earth, are air, water and heat. The action of 

 these, however, is not equally powerful over all classes of 

 plants. The soft and watery, and those which approach the 

 nearest to animal matter, decompose most readily ; the action 

 of disorganizing agents upon them is prompt and effectual. 

 In secluding the substances to be preserved from contact with 

 the destructive agents mentioned, they will be preserved. In 

 all vegetable products, water exists in two different states, one 

 part of it being found free, and the other in a state of true 

 combination ; the first portion not being confined, except by 

 the covering of the vegetable, evaporates at the temperature 

 of the atmosphere, (the reason why vegetables and fruits 

 shrivel when exposed to the air) ; the second is set free only at 

 a temperature sufficiently high to decompose the substances 

 containing it. The first, though foreign to the composition 

 of the vegetable, enters into every part of it, dissolving some 

 of its principles, serving as a vehicle for air and heat, and 

 being converted by cold into ice. By these several properties 

 it greatly facilitates decomposition. The second portion, from 

 which no evil of the kind arises, is found combined and solid- 

 ified in the plants, and its action is thus neutralized. 



By increased attention to the cultivation of roots for family 

 use (the subject of inquiry in the circular issued by the Board 

 of Agriculture) the consumption of animal food, especially 

 salted meats, will be less, and the cost of living lessened. The 

 crop of the garden, if duly tended, will generally give a four- 

 fold return for the labor, if compared with the labor bestowed 

 upon other crops. There are many instances where the culti- 

 vator of six acres of ground cultivated in vegetables for a 

 market, receives a larger net return for his year's labor, than 

 is received from many farms of one hundred acres. 



The method of harvesting, the manner of keeping, the dis- 

 eases to which the crops named are subject, and the remedies 

 which have been found for these evils, with references to other 

 varieties of vegetables, particularly worthy of commendation 

 —will be the subjects of the following year's report. 



George M. Atwater, 

 Simon Brown, 

 Edw. W. Gardner. 



Committee. 



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