424 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



VEGETABLES. 



ESSEX. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



Your committee see no possible reason why this department 

 of agricultural industry should not be suffered to be more fully 

 represented, the more especially when they reflect how much 

 indebted the farmer is to this branch of culture. A scale of 

 the comparative value of each kind of vegetable to the Essex 

 County farmer might be carefully instituted, which should serve 

 for some guide in offering pecuniary or honorary encouragement 

 for the production of new varieties. Are roots better adapted 

 to our hard and stony soil, or rather to the average soils of 

 our county ? If so, what kinds should take precedence ? This 

 determined, let it stand at the head of the list, and let it be 

 represented under its very best conditions. Can it be im- 

 proved ? Experiment will only decide ; and where sufficient 

 encouragement shall be presented, the experiment will be read- 

 ily essayed. "What next should occupy the second place in the 

 series ? what the third ? and so on. Thus an approximation 

 to the capabilities of the soil of the county can be ascertained, 

 and a promising result, in the long run, be anticipated, while at 

 the same time a system may be established. To systematize all 

 kinds of labor has been always found advantageous. Why 

 should it not obtain equally here ? 



Your committee would suggest to the consideration of the 

 society the expediency of offering premiums for the introduc- 

 tion of new varieties of vegetables, to be awarded after a suf- 

 ficient time has elapsed to test their desirableness for extended 

 cultivation. Perhaps, should a liberal premium be given for 

 the best seedling potato raised in the county, — one that would 

 not be liable to the rot, of a large yield, and combining other 

 good qualities, — a great desideratum would be supplied ; also 

 the introduction of new varieties of other esculents, to take 

 the place of some which upon repeated trials are proved of an 

 inferior quality, or not adapted to this soil and climate. Many 



