VEGETABLE COMMITTEE'S REPORT. 45 



Music Hall, allotted to their peculiar province, is not so light and cheerful as 

 it ought to be, and that in its obscurity many of the dark colored vegetables, 

 which are absorbent of light, do not show to the best possible advantage. 



The display of squashes this season was very fine, and with their rich color- 

 ing and rotund forms these favorite vegetables must always constitute a promi- 

 nent feature of our exhibitions. By way of digression, it may not be inappro- 

 priate to observe in this connection, that at the late Novel Exhibition held at 

 the office of the Americnn Agriculturist, in New York City, the " Hubbard 

 Squash," grown by M. C. r)ay, of North Leominster, Mass., received the first 

 prize of i^lO as the best cooking variety. This is, indeed, a most satisfactory 

 endorsement of the opinions of this Society, as previously expressed in its 

 awards for the introduction of this squash, and recommendations for general 

 cultivation. 



The display of Egg Plants exhibited a marked improvement over former 

 specimens, and the Committee are confident, when this vegetable becomes 

 better known, and its delicacy and richness of flavor are fairly tested, by being 

 placed on our tables properly cooked, that it will be nearly, if not quite a.^ 

 popular as the tomato. 



The fine heads of cauliflower, which usually grace our Annual Exhibition, 

 were greatly missed on the last occasion — the most assiduous cultivators, in 

 many instances, having failed to obtain a single fair specimen of this vegetable 

 during the season. VVhai, may have been the cause of this general failure 

 your Committee are at a loss to conjecture, as the ordinary cabbage crop was 

 never finer, and larger, and more solid specimens have rarely been produced, 

 or shown in any previous year. 



Of turnips, J. B. Moore, of Concord, Mass., presented thiity-three named 

 varieties, produced from such seed as is generally obtained from our horticul- 

 tural warehouses. They were of exceedingly various form and texture, and 

 to the curious and comparative observer added much to ihe intere.'-t of the 

 exhibition. 



The fine tobacco plants shown constituted a novel feature in this department. 

 They were the contributions of several amiteur cultivators, and judging from 

 their perfect and luxuriant growth, there would seem to be no difficulty in 

 securing a remunerative crop in this section in ordinary seasons. There were 

 also upon the tables the leaves of these plants, which had partially or wholly 

 undergone the process of curing, and the Committee were ^informed that in 

 Cambridgeport, where some of them grew, three tons of cured tobacco could 

 be easily produced to the acre. Indeed, after seeing the mammoth pears 

 grown in the same locality, the Committee are by no means inclined to ques- 

 tion the accuracy of this statement, however extravagent it may appear. 



They would close this, perhaps too lengthy report, by remarking that their 

 labors and observations during the past year have been full of encouragement 

 for the future, and abundantly attest the increasing utility and general interest 

 manifested in the operations of this Society. 



