REPORT 



OF THE 



Committee on Vegetables, 



FOR THE YEAR 1878. 



By C. N. BRACKETT, Chairman. 



The past season has been an unusually favorable one for the 

 various productions of the vegetable garden. The crops have not 

 onl}^ been abundant, but have, with few exceptions, been above the 

 general average in quality. 



Seldom have we seen finer or better grown specimens than have 

 been placed upon our tables at the weekl}^ exhibitions the past 

 season. We note with great pleasure the gradual improvement in 

 the qualit}^ of the vegetables offered for our inspection from year to 

 year, and are led to infer that more attention is being paid at the 

 present time than formerly, to the great importance of pure and 

 reliable seed, as the starting point to success and profit with the 

 intelligent cultivator. Careful culture, and the employment of the 

 requisite amount of proper fertilizers, are, of course, necessary to 

 the perfection of a crop ; and by rendering plants healthy and 

 vigorous, and enabling them to withstand the vicissitudes of tem- 

 perature in a climate like ours, will do much to insure it, but they 

 will not wholly avail, if the cultivator allows himself to start with 

 inferior or even doubtful seed ; when his harvest comes, disappoint- 

 ment and loss are as sure to follow as day to follow night. This 

 is a matter of great importance, too often overlooked, and which 

 cannot be too frequently impressed upon cultivators, if they desire 

 to promote what most aim at in life, — their own pecuniary 

 interests. 



