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SEEDS AND VEGETABLES— 93 ENTRIES. 



The Committee to examine seeds and vegetables having attended to their Su- 

 ites respectfully submit the following report : 



We found entered for our examination forty -four specimens of the different 

 seeds, and the same number of specimens of the different vegetables, besides 

 live large collections of the latter. We arc glad to notice increased attention 

 paid to this department, believing, as we do, that good seeds arc one of the fun- 

 damental things in agriculture : and an abundance of vegetables both economical 

 and healthful. AVe have sometimes feared that the influence which the seed 

 has on the character of the future plant is not fully appreciated by the farming 

 community, while breeders of stock are very particular in the selection of sires 

 and dams from which to propagate their favorite Durhams, Ayrshires and Jer- 

 seys, knowing that not only the form, color, and all external peculiarities will 

 be transmitted to the progeny but also the constitution, disposition, and habits. 

 AVe do not pretend to understand the delicate but certain influences which the 

 ovum of the female and the semen of the male have upon the future animal. 

 It is one of the many mysteries of life. AA^e only know the fact which is 

 patent to all and lies at the foundation of improvement in ail our domestic ani- 

 mals. 



The propagation of form, constitution and character are no more certain in 

 the animal than in the vegetable kingdom. In the history of creation we read : 

 "God said, let the earth bring forth grain, the herb yielding seed and the fruit- 

 tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself after its kind." The 

 principle thus early established, has never been changed, and all the revelations 

 of science have only confirmed the truth that the seed contains the future plant 

 in embryo and is always true to its kind. Some men have been so foolish as to 

 suppose that their wheat brought forth chess, but they might just as well con- 

 clude that thorn trees would produce figs or that the offspring of sheep may be 

 goats. "Like begets like" is an old proverb, and is true not only of species, 

 but of the peculiarities which distinguish one individual from another. By some 

 sport of nature an individual may have live fingers on the one hand, and in all 

 probability this peculiarity will crop out in his posterity, and if great pains 

 should be taken to have persons with Ave fingers intermarry, the peculiarity 

 might become fixed in the family and transmitted with great certainty. In like 

 manner if the seed of smooth tomatoes only arc sown, and kept remote while 

 growing from other plants, so that the pollen may not be intermixed, wc may 

 finally obtain tomato seed that will be sure to produce smooth fruit. 



The whole subject of inheritance is wonderful and well worthy the attention 

 of farmers. Potatoes can be grown smooth, knotty, round or oblong, by mere- 

 ly planting year after year those, the peculiar characteristic of which we desire 

 to propagate. Onions can be made to grow in the form of a globe or of a 

 cracker, by selecting for seed those that are globular or flat, and doing this for 

 a succession of years, till the peculiarity becomes a matter of certain inheri- 

 tance, or in the language of the breeder of our domestic animals "thorough bred." 

 This transmission of qualities in vegetables has not been so generally under- 

 stood as in animals, but it is more simple, inasmuch as it has reference to form 

 and other physical effects. How intellectual and moral qualities in the human 

 family can be transmitted we may well wonder, but it is so commonly observed 

 that no one doubts it. Neither is there any doubt but that a Jersey bull will 

 transmit the peculiarities of his form and color to his progeny, and will have an 

 effect upon the disposition, mammary glands, and even the peculiar quality of 

 the milk of the cows that may be generated. With just the same certainty we 

 cam transmit early maturity, large and plump kernels, many and straight rows, 

 long and small cobs, many eared stalks and all the other qualities which we de- 

 sire to propagate in our corn crop. For instance if we wish to establish the 

 quality of early maturity and make it thorough bred, we have only to select 



