REPORTS OF COMMITTEES. II 



Standard for our guidance would be a collection of specimens 

 of such a character that they would in quantity command the 

 highest price in an educated market where quality was the 

 prime test and mere size often an objection. Would a bushel of 

 potatoes weighing i^ lbs. each sell as well in any market as 

 those weighing half a pound ? Then why give them the pre- 

 mium ? Large beets, turnips, squashes and many other things 

 are unsalable partly because they are large, but mainly for the 

 reason that they are always of inferior quality. Fruits or vege- 

 tables that are of medium size, smooth, clean and well shaped, 

 and where each is a very close pattern of its associates, will 

 always command the highest price, and should for the same 

 qualities receive the highest prize. 



We found in a number of instances a plate of ten pears or 

 apples, of which nine would be very fine in all respects and 

 models one of another, while the tenth one was overgrown, one- 

 sided, coarse in its look, and on examination of the calyx a very 

 prominent worm-hole perhaps presented itself, making us turn 

 disgusted away, notwithstanding the attractions of the nine. We 

 could not find it in our judgment to award premiums to worm- 

 holes. If a colored feather in a white fowl acts as a disqualifi- 

 cation, certainly a worm-hole in an apple or pear should do no 

 less. The committee on vegetables are directed to '' regard per- 

 fection of growth and quality, and not size," and we see no 

 reason why the same should not apply to all fruits, and yet we 

 are fearful that even in the light of this direction committees 

 are prone to regard size first. 



The remark was made several times in our hearing that the 

 premiums to Town Clubs should be divided, on the ground that 

 while Leominster made the finest exhibit of fruits, Westminster 

 did the same of vegetables. We agree that the premiums should 

 be divided in any future offers, and recommend that course to 

 the Trustees ; but when we came to compare the two collections 

 of vegetables we found that although Westminster made the 

 largest display of the largest vegetables, yet in the light of the 

 considerations we have specified, Leominster stood very decid- 

 edly superior, and the same being true of fruits, we could do 

 no other than award to the Leominster Association the first 

 premium of $40, and to the Westminster Association the second 



