16 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1868. 



REPORT ON VEGETABLES. 



Henry Chapik, Chairman ; H.G.White, Thomas R. Norcross, J. D. 

 LovELL, S. Harrison Knox, of Worcester; Josiah L. Woodward, of Mill- 

 bury, and George Cruikshank, of Korthbridge. 



The Committee on Vegetables have attended to their multifarious duties, and 

 submit the following Report : 



"Vegetable in its widest sense," according to Worcester's Dictionary, "is a 

 term which includes all the productions of the vegetable kingdom — all which 

 are treated of in the science of Botany, from the largest trees to the common 

 moss." The duties of the Committee are not co-extentive with Vegetable in 

 its widest sense, but are limited to those vegetables which, "as the term is com- 

 monly used are such plants as are cultivated for the table." In other words, 

 the committee have in hand that part of the vegetable kingdom which relates 

 to good eating, and the display was truly tempting in its appearance. Seldom, 

 if ever, has there been at any exhibition of the Society, so fine a display of 

 vegetables for the table, and the contributors must have looked with pride and 

 pleasure upon the products of their labors. 



Good vegetables are essential to a first-class meal. The connexion between 

 the cook and the vegetables is so intimate that it is not easy to separate them, 

 because although a poor cook can hardly make a palatable dish from good ma- 

 terials, a good cook will make any decent article of food comparatively accept- 

 able. Blessed is that family in which a good cook and good vegetables pre- 

 dominate. 



If there is any one thing more pleasant than eating vegetables, it is raising 

 them. The committee have no sympathy with the view of the lazy wag who 

 declared that all he saved in working in his garden was spent for liniment, because 

 they see in the culture and improvement of these domestic luxuries, something 

 which is attractive in itself and gratifying in its results. Nothing pays more 

 readily for care and attention than the garden. The unfolding of every leaf, and 

 the growth and development of each fruit and flower, are the ready and grateful 

 response to intelligent care and cultivation. The sterile field becomes fruitful 

 with verdure. The quality of each article becomes partially changed in its 

 character. The coarse western red potato becomes the rich and luscious Ber- 

 muda, merely as the result of a change of climate and in the mode of cultiva- 

 tion ; and the culture of the vegetables of the earth, like the culture of the 

 mmds of our children, brings home a rich harvest of growth and beauty. 



The Committee have instructed the Chairman to submit the following list of 

 premiums and gratuities for the consideration of the Society. They award — 

 For the best display, Stephen Salisbury, the Society's Plate, valued at... $10 00 



For the second best, Alden H. Sears, 8 00 



For the third best, Sylvanus Sears, 4 00 



