REPORT 



OF THE 



Committee on Vegetables, 



For the Year 1876. 



By C. N. BRACKETT, Chairman. 



The Committee on Vegetables present to the Society the follow- 

 ing brief report of their doings for the year 1876. 



The general impression that we derive from the exhibitions of 

 the 3^ear is, that, taken as a whole, those of the past season have 

 been, beyond dispnte, the best ever made in this department 

 since the organization of the Society. The number, qualit}^, and 

 variety of specimens on exhibition have furnished pleasing proofs 

 of the higli state of cultivation in this vicinity, and have shown 

 that our leading cultivators are striving, in honorable competition, 

 to bring to perfection the various products of the field and garden. 

 The weekly exhibitions have been much in advance of those of 

 last year, and if we take into consideration the near approach of 

 many of the specimens offered, to the desired standard of excellence, 

 togetlier with the constantly increasing competition in this depart- 

 ment of the Society's exhibitions, we are led to remark, that a 

 spirit of enterprise is abroad, which is not only encouraging, but 

 gives the fairest promise for the future. Every cultivator who 

 desires to be successful, or who expects to realize a profit from his 

 crops, should keep a two-fold purpose in view, in respect to the 

 qualit}^ of the various productions he raises : first, never to allow 

 any good thing to deteriorate on his hands ; and second, to be con- 

 stantl}^ taxing the forces of nature to produce a better than the 

 best product yet known. It is an established fact in vegetable life, 

 that deterioration is quite as possible as improvement. It is not 



