Best display of tomatoes, in variety and quality... Best three drumhead cabbages..... Best three heads of red Dutch cabbage.... Best three heads of any other variety not named above.... Best three heads of cauliflower.. Best display of onions, in variety and quality.. Best display of peppers, in variety and quality... Best six stalks of celery... Best three marrow squashes Best three crookneck squashes.... Best display of squashes, in variety and quality.. Best display of pumpkins, in variety and quality. Best display of sweet corn, in variety and quality. $4 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 3 2 3 2 3 ૦૨ ૨ ૨ 4 2 3 Best and greatest display of melons of all varieties, both water-melons and muskmelons... Best six seed cucumbers.. Best six radishes..... Best half peck of Lima beans... white bunch or soup beans.. kidney bunch beans.... pole beans, other than Lima.... field peas.. garden peas Best and greatest variety of peas. Best half peck of gherkin cucumbers... 1. 21 2 3 1 Best and greatest variety of vegetables raised by one exhibiter or firm..... 15 All of which is respectfully submitted. G. S. INNIS, MISCELLANEOUS. Committee. ....Commended do do do do do P. Hellrigle, Dayton, egg plant, very fine A. W. Livingston, Reynoldsburgh, winter crook-neck squashes..... do Hubbard squashes.. do do Peter Moore, Springfield, peck of pea nuts.. Henry Swigart, Newport, Shelby co., mammoth English pie pumpkin. Henry Swigart, Newport, Shelby co., mammoth English sweet potatoe squash .... FLOWERS. PROFESSIONAL LIST. The number of entries in this class was 72. The awards and report of the committee were as follows: Best twenty varieties, Wm. Heaver, Cincinnati. ... Second best twenty varieties, Mrs. M. A. Jennison, Dayton...... Best twelve varieties, Wm. Heaver, Cincinnati..... Second best twelve varieties, Jas. G. Breene, Dayton. Best six varieties, Wm. Heaver, Cincinnati.... ... Second best six varieties, Mrs. M. A. Jennison, Dayton.. Best collection in variety, Wm. Heaver, Cincinnati..... Best collection verbenas in pots, Jabez Johnson, Dayton.... Second best collection verbenas in pots, Mrs. M. A. Jennison, Dayton..... $15 10 6 4 3 2 5 3 5 34 3 3 2 3 5 3 Best twelve varieties of dahlias, S. S. Jackson & Son, Cincinnati.... Second best display of roses, Matthew Butt, Dayton. Best display of cut flowers, Wm. Heaver, Cincinnati... The committee has awarded the premiums according to their best judgment; but would refer to the premium for peonies and gloxinias, which it is not necessary to offer, as they never bloom so late in the season. The committee recommend to the Board to offer higher premiums in this class; for, though gardeners and nurserymen do not raise fast horses or big bulls, the raising of fine and choice plants is accompanied with an equal expenditure of time, labor and expense. J. L. STELZIG, AMATEUR LIST. $15 In this class were 30 entries. The following were the awards and report: Best display of verbenas, Mrs. E. Davis, Dayton..... Second best display of verbenas, Mrs. E. Langstedt, Dayton... Second best display of roses, Mrs. E. Davis, Dayton.... Second best display of cut flowers, Mrs. L H. Beall, Xenia..... Best floral ornament, Mrs. E. Langstedt, Dayton.... Second best basket of flowers, Henrietta Peirce, Dayton.... $5 3 5 3 In the list of awards your committee regret they were prohibited by the regulations defining their duties from bestowing premiums on several meritorious articles, simply because they did not come under specified rules. Among the most original and deserving of which were the collection of ferns, mosses, etc., tastefully arranged, and presented by Mrs. R. W. Steele, of Dayton, which we considered worthy of especial commendation. Another interesting object was a collection of grasses and native wild flowers, arranged in a large vase bouquet by Mrs. J. H. Peirce, of Dayton. We think that the ladies who displayed such taste in the arrangement of these easily acquired native productions are eminently deserving some special notice from your honorable Board, if only to thereby show your appreciation of the talent which adds so cheaply so much to the adornment and attraction of homes, accompanied, as it almost invariably is, by a provident attention to our more substantial wants. One of the most beautiful objects on exhibition in Floral Hall was a tastily arranged basket of choice flowers, presented by Mrs. Eakers, of Dayton,—not entered for competition, but your committee feel they would lay themselves open to the charge of blindness, or indifferent neglect, by failing to favorably notice such an exhibition of amateur taste and skill, as its whole arrangement displayed. Your committee were much pleased with the decoration and ornament of a floral design, understood to have been the work of the young ladies of the High school, and would respectfully suggest that the placing of one or two silver medals at the disposition of the principal of the school, as awards to the most deserving scholars, might serve as a stimulus to future exertion, while, at the same time, it would be an earnest testimonial of your appreciation of the skill and industry displayed on the occasion. From the foregoing, and the list of awards, you will perceive that the duties of the Amateur Flower committee were not of a very laborious or arduous character, and the mention of this fact leads us to the inquiry, Why is such the case ?a question your committee propose to examine, and ask the patient consideration of your honorable body to the conclusions at which they may arrive. That Floral Hall, notwithstanding the meagerness of the display, is generally considered one of the most attractive features at such annual gatherings, a long experience in attendance at State fairs enables us confidently to affirm-more especially is it the focus of attraction to that portion of our families whose presence, whilst it elevates and refines and enlivens, the scene has a strongly conserv ative character, in keeping in check any disposition to excess or irregularity in the sterner sex. That the Executive committee are in some respects aware of the growing importance and increasing interests manifested in this department of domestic economy, is apparent in the enlarged accommodation provided for its display; but we would respectfully call your attention to what we deem a very important omission, viz: the failing to offer sufficient inducements to exhibiters, in the way of premiums, to prevail on the amateur cultivators of flowers to cull their floral treasures, and bring them for exhibition. The accommodation provided for the display of fruits and flowers at the late fair were nearly fourfold what they were when the fair was held here some five years back; but the amount of premiums offered bore no proportion to the enlarged accommodation provided; and to that cause mainly we attribute the paucity of articles entered for competition in the amateur list. To show your honorable body that ladies can reason with some force on mat. ters that concern their own interests, we would mention we heard more than one remark that, whilst the premiums on stock and fast horses had been considerably increased, there had been no addition to the flower list; consequently, they feel that they have not received that consideration at the hands of the Executive committee, which they claim their peculiar province demands. Your committee suppose that one of the principal benefits expected to be derived from these annual exhibitions is the opportunity afforded the masses of the community of noting and comparing the progressive improvement continually being introduced amongst us; and your committee assert this improvement does keep going on among flowers just as much as among stock, machinery, or the mechanic arts, and the committee believe has nearly as strong claims on your attention as the other departments of buman industry. The dissemination of a love for flowers has received the commendation of the wise and good from the earliest ages. Much praise is due the ladies of Dayton for the tasty manner in which they had decorated Floral Hall; and your committee regret they have not the power of testifying their appreciation of such industry in some more substantial manner than in this cursory notice; but, notwithstanding these preparations and provisions, the fact stands on the record that at the Ohio State Fair, held in the city of Dayton, in the heart of the rich Miami Valley, in the year 1860, there were just ten names entered as competitors for the premiums in the amateur list of flowers, and this paucity of exhibiters, we believe, arises from the meagerness of the premiums and the small amounts of such as were offered. For several articles in the schedule, there was no competition. In such cases had committees discretionary power to award the amounts unclaimed to meritorious |