1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



519 



MIDDLESEX COUNTY AGEICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



OCTOBER THIRD AND FOURTH. 



Report of the Show of Fruit, Vegetables, tjc, at 



the Society's Exhibitioti Hall. 



In attending to our duties as Secretary of the 

 Society, we were deprived the opportunity of 

 making up a report of its doings ; and on the 

 morning succeeding were obliged to leave for 

 New Hampsliire, to deliver the Address at the 

 State Fair, at Keene. We have, therefore, availed 

 ourselves of the tjkill of Wm. D. Brown, Esq., in 

 making up the account of things in the Exhibi- 

 tion Hall, and of Dr. Joseph Reynolds that of 

 the stock, plowing, services at the church, dinner 

 table, &c., and give them below. 



The display of fruit, vegetables, household arti- 

 cles, &c., in the Society's Hall on the exhibition 

 ground, was very fine, and examined with great 

 satisfaction. Cultivators and amateurs found it 

 an admirable opportunity to compare fruits, and 

 judge of new varieties. Those who have been 

 backward in raising good fruit, saw here, almost 

 in bewildering profusion, what the earth would 

 produce if treated with intelligence and skill. 

 The lovers of fine apples, pears and peaches — and 

 this class includes about everybody — inspected the 

 long lines of loaded plates and baskets, and 

 ])reathed the air perfumed with the rich odors of 

 the grape, with many signs of pleasure. 



The departments allotted to household manu- 

 factures were not fully occupied. For this occa- 

 sion, at least, the ladies were willing that their 

 part of the exhibition should be overshadowed by 

 the rich productions of the garden and orchard. 



With many of the articles on their table we 

 were, unfortunately, not familiar. We appre- 

 ciated the excellent socks from Woburn ; those 

 by Miss R. Rogers were very desirable. We no- 

 ticed an embroidered scarf, by Mrs. G. L. Pres- 

 cott, of Concord ; a pretty bonnet loithout a face, 

 l)y !Mrs. J. Gleason, Concord ; beautiful wax 

 flowers, hj Amelia Johnson, Charlestown ; a child 

 asleep upon a wide-awake dog, in worsted, by 

 Miss Helen G. Reed, Woburn ; infant sack and 

 shoes, by Miss R. M. Barrett, Concord ; a pencil 

 drawing of Gen. Washington, by Jilary J.Smith, 

 Waltham ; antique chair, with " twenty-eight 

 thousand seven hundred stitches " in the worsted 

 back ! by jMiss Margaret Rice ; blankets, by Mrs. 

 H. TarbcU ; leather picture-frames, by Miss S. C. 

 Brown, Concord ; frames covered with fircones, 

 by Mrs. II, Pierce, Lexington ; chairs, crickets, 

 lamp-mats, embroideries, wrouglit slippers, and 

 the funniest little 8hoes-*-for some cherub, a first 

 pair^ 



We weve led away fx-om these attractions to 

 the table bearing twenty dishes of Mr. E. W, 

 Bull's famous " Concord grape." The bunches 

 were large. The berries were rounder thuo the 



Isabella, of a dark purple. The cluster was close 

 and compact. The grapes were fully ripe and 

 very fragrant. They ripen earlier than the Isa- 

 bella, even if exposed in the open air. So says 

 Mr. Bull. 



The Concord grape has met with a great sale. 

 If others shall be discovered as valuable, great 

 credit will accrue to Mr. Bull for introducing the 

 first vine possessing such hardiness and excellence. 



S. C. Wheeler, Groton, showed the only plate 

 of Northern Spy we saw on the tables. They are 

 not so brilliant or saleable as Baldwins. The 

 Northern Spy is recommended as a late keeper, 

 hardy, and good bearer. Wm. Leigh ton. Con- 

 cord, had fine apples in large glass dishes. 



Robert Chaffin, Acton, showed three large 

 bunches of grapes hanging to a stem six inches 

 long ; Mrs. M. K. Prescott, Concord, large basket 

 of fruit; Albert Hagar, Lincoln, fine late Craw- 

 ford peaches; W. W. Whcildon, of the Bunker 

 Hill Aurora, from his fine garden in Concord, 

 Maiden's Blush — a selling, if not a telling, name — 

 Lady apple, &c. Josiah Stiekney, Brighton, 18 

 plates of beautiful pears; Wm. T. Conant,, South 

 Acton, assortment of fine fruit ; Mr. Buckminster, 

 of the Massachusetts Ploughman, very fair large 

 Roxbury Russet, which, it seems, can be grown 

 good-looking. H. A. Wheeler, Concord, had a 

 basket of good fruit ; Asa Clement, Dracut, a 

 large variety of apples, pears and peaches ; James 

 Eustis, South Reading, among other kinds the 

 fine German apple, the Gravenstein, which every 

 cultivator should have — and^ also, the Fisk Rus- 

 set, more w/i-desirable. Mr. Eustis says the York 

 Russet trees furnish prime stocks for grafting 

 good kinds into ! Those who have the trees may 

 bear this in mind with profit ! N. P. Morrison, 

 Somerville, showed fine apples, and among them 

 a beautiful red seedling, high colored, good shape 

 and finely-flavored, which will prove a fine variety. 

 Edward T. Chandler, Lexington, exhibited somQ 

 tempting Coe's Golden Drop plums ; G. M. Bar- 

 rett, L. Eaton, George Wood, Minot Pratt, John 

 Brown, W. D. Brown, J. P. Brown, apples; E, 

 Toluian, quinces, " all of Concord," There was 

 a small show of butter ; somehow " the butter 

 ivouldn't co7)ie!" Mr. A. G. Sheldon, of Wil- 

 mington, took home the " silver ' spoons " (Ist 

 prem,) for the best lot. Near by to the butter 

 was honey from Charles Willis's hive, Concord ; 

 part of the " seventy pounds " made this summer 

 by the swarm, In this attractive neighborhood, 

 too, we found the bread, which tlic Society wisely 

 deem of so much importance to be well made, 

 especially by the " unmarried.'^ 



The vegetables were good for the season. W, 

 1). Brown showed a peck of potatoes raised from 

 one potato and 07ic hill ,• John R . I lardy , AN'altham, 

 Custard Squash ; John Raynoldsj, Concord, fine 

 varieties of potatoes aiid scjuashcs ; Minot Pratt, 



