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in public opinion, than a gratuity of much larger amount. 

 The exhibitor, as a general rule, competes, not for the money 

 he can get, but for the pleasure, if not pride, of having the 

 premium article and one that is not dependent upon the limit- 

 ed generosity of a committee in rewarding its merits with a 

 gratuity. In our opinion, it is better by far, as a means of 

 promoting the best results, to extend the list of premiums and 

 diminish the amount in gratuities. 



The first and most important article that came under the 

 consideration of your Committee was Bread, which was found 

 (with exceptional cases of one exhibit, sour, and one slack 

 baked), to be generally excellent. The best loaf was very 

 large, very handsomely and evenly baked, and of excellent 

 quality, there being but little choice between that and the next 

 best in quality ; the size and evenness of baking of the larger 

 loaf deciding the question. The third best was made by a 

 Miss of 13 years, whose penmanship shows that bread making 

 is not her only accomplishment, and there can be no more 

 valuable accomplishment or better praise for any lady, young 

 or old, than to have it said of her, " what excellent bread she 

 always makes." Others had good bread, and the statements 

 of how they made it, which is given with this report, will be 

 read with interest, and as we do not consider it inappropriate 

 in any Committee, in their report, to give the history of the 

 chief material of which the article upon which they report is 

 composed ; and, as bread of no other cereal was exhibited, we 

 leave the other kinds for a subsequent committee to take up, 

 and have taken Wheat, the improved varieties of which furnish 

 the material for making the best bread of the present day. It 

 is supposed to have existed in perfect state at the creation of 

 man, and that " Noah preserved its seed from the flood," for 

 we find that " seed time and harvest " is alluded to in the 

 promise to Noah immediately after the " flood," showing that 

 cereals had been cultivated previously. 



One hundred years after the death of Noah, Abraham, in 

 his hospitality to strangers, " hastened into the tent unto 



