328 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



late ciibbages, are often started too early, and get tough or overgrown by winter, 

 and ill case of cabbage will not keep well. Some people make use of artichokes. 

 They make a variety. A few early carrots arc often relished, and parsneps are 

 still more desirable. Most roots and vegetables can be preserved by burying 

 them properly in the ground. Do not cover warm too early. The difficulty of 

 burying is great in our variable climate. In cellars, artichokes, beets, turnips, 

 parsneps, carrots, vegetable oysters, and winter radishes, are best kept in boxes 

 with damp sphagnum. In case sphagnum is not hand}-, use damp soil. In 

 autumn I have seen beets a year old kept in sphagnum. They looked as fresh as 

 the new crop, and were nearly as good. 



Parsnejis and salsify keep longer than usually supposed, if buried in a shady 

 place, and left undisturbed till some time late in May, They may be kept in 

 an ice-house late into the summer. For corn, more pains may be taken for a 

 succession. So with lettuce and radishes and peas; until people become accus- 

 tomed to their use, they do not know the value of salsify, or vegetable oysters. 

 No family should think of doing without a few roots of rhubarb and a bed of 

 asparagus. A few rapidly grown turnips, or bagas, kept in sphagnum, are a 

 luxury. Sweet potatoes are not very fine when grown in our climate, but these, 

 or others bought farther south, may be kept a long time, if properly attended 

 to. They must be well ripened, and carefully dried and placed by a stove till 

 the skin becomes well dried, when they may be placed, wiLliout any packing, in 

 a tight box or barrel, and kept at a temperature of about G0°. Some people 

 like summer squashes which are early raised, and everyone should have late 

 squaslies occasionally from summer till spring. The Hubbard, Marblehead, 

 or winter crookneck, to keep well, should be very tenderly handled, not even 

 shaken or turned over. Place them at the first approach of light frost under 

 a shed, and cover witii litter till there is danger from freezing, then carry to a 

 cool cellar. They ought to keep till spring. But the crowning vegetable of all 

 is celery, and how rare to find it on our tables, especially in the country. At 

 this time I will not write an essay on this important subject, but merely say that 

 celery is wholesome, palatable, delicious ; that it is worth the trouble of every 

 man to learn how to grow it and to preserve it for winter use. A good supply 

 of vegetables is necessary for comfort and for healtli. Like fruit, they are 

 absolutely necessary for a good living. Fruit and vegetables are much cheaper 

 than fish and flesh, and if well supplied with a good variety in all seasons, less 

 meat would be eaten, and in my opinion we should all be the better for it. 



The Committee on Kesolutions reported through the chairman, J. Cr. Hams- 

 dell, an appropriate series of resolutions, tendering thanks to all who had so 

 effectually rendered service in making the annual meeting for 1877 a success. 



Adjourned to meet in Allegan some time in February, exact date to be settled 

 by the Executive Committee. 



