1892.] FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 41 



articles of universal use. Many gardeners make the cultivation 

 of celery an exclusive pursuit. 



As for the tomato, the consumption of this semi-vegetable and 

 semi-fruit has become enormous. 350,000 boxes of them were 

 shipped from the port of Norfolk alone in 1889, and 22,800 

 acres of land are devoted to its culture, almost as many acres as 

 are required by the Irish potato, of which article of diet it has 

 become a competitor.* 



But to return to the more particular work of this Society. If 

 we could reverse the wheels of time and transport ourselves 

 back to the scenes of its earliest annual exhibitions we should be 

 amazed at their crudity. I have been fortunate enough to find 

 the original manuscript containing the list of premiums awarded 

 at the first exhibition, held in October, 1840. This whole list 

 of premiums for fruit, vegetables and flowers (this is the order 

 in which they come) is contained upon a single page. Premiums 

 are awarded for only five varieties of pears of which only three 

 are named. For thirteen varieties of apples — and this (with a 

 single premium for quinces and one for Isabella grapes) com- 

 pletes the list of fruits. Of vegetables there is but a single 

 variety mentioned, the squash ; and of flowers but one variety, 

 the dahlia. As this document has never been published in the 

 Transactions of the Society, it may be of interest to give it here 

 entire. 



'''■List of Premiums Aicarded by the Worcester County Horticul- 

 tural Society^ at their first Exhibition^ October^ 1840. 



To E. F. Dixie, Worcester, for best saruple of Seckel Pear. 



To Capt. Silas Allen, Shrewsbury, for best sample of Andrews' Pear. 



To Doct. John Green, Worcester, for best sample of St. Michael's 



Pear. 

 To Doct. Burnett, for best sample of Seedling Pear. 

 To A. H. Green, Worcester, for best sample of Winter Baking Pear. 

 To Benj. N. Childs, Worcester, for best sample of Winter Greening 



Apple. 

 To Jonathan W. Stowe, Grafton, for best sample of Baldwin Apple. 

 To Samuel A. Knox, Grafton, for best sample of Hubbardston 



Nonsuch Apple. 



* The foregoing statistics liave been largely gathered from advauce bulletins 

 of the census, 1890, Avhich have been kindly forwarded to me by the Hon. 

 Robert P. Porter, Superintendent of the Census. 



