68 



12. Third premium, to Frank With am, Middleton, for 



25 ears Field corn. 

 |3. First premium, to B. II. Taylor, Peabody, for 25 ears 



Pop corn. 

 $2. Second premium, to Wm. A. Walton, Ipswich, for 25 



ears Pop Corn. 

 |8. First premium, to J. J. H. Gregory, Marblehead, for 



243 samples Field and Garden seed. 

 $5. Second premium, to Charles W. Mann, Methuen, for 



Field and Garden seed. 

 A large variety of seeds was exhibited by Morrison & 

 Trask, of Peabody, which, not being grown in the county, 

 could not compete for premiums. N. W. Edson & Co., 

 of Peabody, covered their attractive " booth," con- 

 taining samples of their goods, with trace corn, which 

 the committee are glad to notice, both for its excellence 

 and taste of arrangement. 



Rufus Kimball, P. Albert True, W. H. Greenleaf— 

 ( 'ommittee. 



GRAIN AND SEED. 



Much might be written of the antiquity of seeds and 

 grain, but where the seeds of some of our garden vege- 

 tables came from is likely to remain in doubt. 



The potato, the most valuable and widely cultivated of 

 esculent tubers, is a native of the elevated tropical val- 

 leys of Mexico, Peru, and Chili. It was unknown in 

 New England until near the middle of the eighteen tli 

 century, although described by Gerard, in his Herbal/, in 

 1597, under the name of Batata Virginiana. It is allied 

 to several powerful narcotics, such as tobacco, henbane, 

 and belladonna, as well as to other esculents. In pro- 

 duction, it exceeds that of any other esculent, yielding, 

 according, to Humbolt, thirty times greater weight than 

 wheat, on an equal amount of ground. 



There is positive evidence that the radish was grown 

 in the gardens of the Pharoahs, although it did not reach 



