132 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



for premiums, can be greatly improved upon by adopting the 

 plan which the Massachusetts Horticultural Society followed 

 this year for the first time, and which has been generally pro- 

 nounced most desirable by connoisseurs. That society no 

 longer exhibits by collections, but by specimens, so as to have 

 all mangolds together, all flat turnips together, etc., etc. 

 Thus the committees can do their work most justly, and much 

 more quickly. All specimens should be distinctly numbered 

 with the exhibitor's number as contained in the list of entries ; 

 and no vegetable should have the owner's name attached until 

 after all awards have been made. 



The Committees, having the list of premiums, as contained 

 in the printed "Order of Arrangements," and a sufficient 

 number of premium and gratuity cards, then begin their 

 work. They see before them, in examining, for example, 

 the mangolds, all that have been entered, without having to 

 wander all about the tent to find them ; and they can at once 

 examine and place the premium card where it belongs, at 

 the same time making a note of the number attached to the 

 specimen, for future guidance. So on till all the awards have 

 been made. 



The owners' names have not yet been known by the com- 

 mittees, so that no one can have the chance of saying that any 

 partiality has been shown. It is now the time when the 

 superintendent of the hall should be instructed to give the 

 chairman of the committee the book which contains a list of 

 exhibitors, with their number prefixed to their names, and a 

 complete list of the articles each exhibits, following his name. 

 Then let the chairman write on each premium card the exhib- 

 itor's name and the name of specimen for which the award 

 was made. 



It would be well to provide cards twelve inches long by 

 three and a half inches wide, on each side of which should be 

 printed the name of every vegetable for which premiums are 

 offered ; these to be placed in a slit, made in the end of a 

 round stick, one-half an inch thick, and the whole supported 

 on a round base one inch thick and five or six inches in diam- 

 eter. If these are placed near what they represent, and the 

 card at right angles to the length of the tables, we shall have 

 given to our visitors the means of ascertaining at a glance, up 



