24 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1895. 



land enough so that it is not necessary for him to have more than 

 from one-third to one-half of his land under cultivation, there is then 

 no trouble keeping his soil well supplied with vegetable matter with- 

 out drawing heavily of manure ; in which case it becomes desirable to 

 ascertain the relative value of agricultural chemicals, mixed fertil- 

 izers and stable manure to see which will produce, not always the 

 lai'gest crop, but rather the one that is the most satisfactory, every- 

 thing considered. 



Quality, I am sorry to say, does not count for as much in our mar- 

 ket as it should, not that we do not now have to grow as good vege- 

 tables as people wish to pay for, but most people buy by the eye, and 

 many things that look very good are not of the best quality, and 

 people after buying a poor thing a few times will decide that they 

 don't care for it, and stop buying, which is not what we want. It is 

 better to have a good sale at a reasonable profit, and that is a small 

 one at this time, than to have a limited sale at a much larger profit. 



Another thing that should be considered by the gardeners is some 

 way to have the vegetables reach the consumer in better shape than 

 they do at the present time. This is a point that we as vegetable 

 growers are not apt to give as much time and attention as the matter 

 deserves. 



"We are very liable to consider that when they are sold to the dealer 

 and we have received our pay for them, that it makes no difference to 

 us whether the dealer is able to sell them or the consumer able to eat 

 them ; but here we are making a mistake ; we should not only try and 

 put them up in such a manner that there should be the least possible 

 loss to the dealer, but so that they should be in the best possible condi- 

 tion when they reach the consumer. 



I will not at this time even suggest a remedy for the present care- 

 less handling of vegetables, but any of you who chance to be about 

 a market, especially during warm weather, can see that there is 

 need of better handling ; and there is not a doubt but what it would 

 be as much of a benefit to the growers as to any one. 



When we come to look at this subject in the line of individual vege- 

 tables, varieties, methods of growing and handling, etc., it is rather 

 difficult to decide just where to begin, and I shall not try to treat the 

 subject, but just take up some of the standard varieties. 



Of the whole list of vegetables there is not, perhaps, one of more 

 importance to the gardener than lettuce. You may think differently, 

 many of you, as there are many who only think of lettuce as a salad 

 a few weeks during early summer ; but when you consider that at the 



