26 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the shoots in that way. He reported his yield to the acre 

 between three and four hundred bushels. 



Mr. Low. I have heard of these wonderful experiments 

 again and again, in New Jersey, in Iowa, in Rhode Island, 

 and in Connecticut, and I affirm tluit they are big stories. If 

 you haTc only enough manure, you can raise potatoes if the 

 piece you plant is no larger than your thumb. But we have 

 not enough manure. I am speaking of something that is 

 practicable for the farmers of Connecticut: If your potatoes 

 are of fair size, cut them once, give them plenty of manure, 

 and you can raise three hundred bushels to the acre. 



Mr. J. Stanton Gould, of New York. This is a contro- 

 versy which has exercised the minds of farmers for years and 

 years, not only in our own country, but in England, in Ger- 

 many, and in every other country where potatoes are raised. 

 I have a record of experiments innumerable, some of tliem 

 stated in the most admirable manner, others stated in the 

 most slovenly manner ; and they are exceedingly contradic- 

 tory. Some of them show that the largest yield has resulted 

 from the planting of small sets ; others show exactly the re- 

 verse. The misfortune with all the experiments I have seen — 

 and I am sure I have studied many thousands of them — is 

 that they have not been protracted. Farmers have satisfied 

 themselves with experiments lasting for a single year ; and 

 when a decisive experiment, as Mr. Lyman's appears to have 

 been, has been made, they have been entirely satisfied, and 

 have never experimented again. That is the crying sin 

 f our farmers that they do not seek to verify these experi- 

 ments. 



Mr. Lyman. I mean to follow it up on that line. 



Mr. Gould, It will be an excellent thing if that idea is 

 carried out. My object in rising was simply to call attention 

 to a most admirable series of experiments made in Germany 

 by one of the most philosophical observers, and most careful 

 experimenters on all subjects connected with agriculture. 

 This gentleman is Mr. J. N. Schwarts, of Germany. Looking 

 over, as we have all done, these various experiments, and no- 

 ticing the contradictory results which have been arrived at, 



