VEGETABLES. 53 



ceptible from year to year. The increased receipts at the door, 

 and the crowded condition of the Halls, indicate that the public 

 attention is awakened to their importance. The greater amount of 

 contributions, and that from a larger number of contributors, is an 

 evidence that this branch of culture is not neglected, but is receiv- 

 ing a due degree of attention, especially in our cities and larger 

 towns, or their immediate vicinities. 



Such being the case, it is much to be regretted that the society 

 does not furnish more extensive accommodations for a proper dis- 

 play of the products of industry, particularly in that department 

 which is under the immediate charge of this committee. 



The specimens, for the most part, are large — as huge and m.am- 

 moth squashes, bunches of onions, beets, carrots, turnips, potatoes, 

 &c., and require much space to exhibit them to advantage. 



The society, by issuing a general invitation to all producers, and 

 requesting them to contribute the choice specimens of their pro- 

 ducts to the exhibition, guaranties a due degree of accommodation 

 for displaying such articles as may be presented. It seems to be 

 only a mere act of justice to these contributors that the committee 

 of arrangements, or those to whom this duty belongs, should see 

 that all suitable measures are adopted to attain this object. 



A collection of vegetables, when properly arranged, presents a 

 beautiful spectacle — the diversity of forms is very peculiar, and 

 so striking as to arrest the attention, and to excite the admiration 

 of the most indifferent observer. Every part of the plant is here 

 represented in one or the other of the various classes, and to the 

 improvement of that particular part of the plant in the respective 

 class the efforts of the cultivators are mainly directed ; thus some are 

 cultivated for the leaf, others for the leaf stock ; some for the 

 ripened seed, others for the pericarp or the recepticle of the soed ; 

 some for the bulb, or bud, in which is folded the future plant ; oth- 

 ers for the roots, &c. 



In each of these several groupings we likewise observe a great 

 diversity, not only in form, but in size and coloring — thus, in the 

 gourd or squash family is presented the small egg squash, of 

 light color, resembling very much a large egg, and weighing only a 

 few ounces, and the mammoth specimens, which Aveigh some 100 

 to 150 lbs. — some are round, others oval ; some are crook-necked, 



