1883.] THE FARMER AND HIS FAMILY. 187 



to a position a few years ago where it became my duty and 

 pleasure to seek to get some legislation for the benefit of the 

 farmers of the State of Connecticut, I found that when the 

 committees reported in favor of any measure, on taking it be- 

 fore the House of Representatives I could rely in almost 

 every case upon the support of the lawyer, of the doctor, of 

 the mechanic, of the manufacturer, but there was great doubt 

 about how the farmers would vote when the question came to 

 be acted upon. There are hundreds of men who are sent to the 

 Connecticut Legislature as farmers, and nine out of ten will 

 vote against every proposition to benefit the farmers of the 

 State. They will vote hundreds of thousands of dollars for 

 the military, or any other object that comes up, but if they are 

 asked to vote a dollar for the benefit of agriculture, they will 

 not do it. 



If any gentleman has any question to ask Maj. Alvord, he 

 will be most happy, I have no doubt, to answer. If there is 

 no question, perhaps some gentleman will favor us with some 

 remarks. We have a few moments before we adjourn. 



Dr. Sturtevant. I propose, in a very few words, to give 

 you the result of a few studies upon the potato which appear 

 to have, as far as our investigation goes, a very important 

 practical bearing upon the cultivation of that article. 



If a potato be cut, there will be found running through the 

 center an appearance of structure, which may be represented 

 by a central band of fibres, each connected by lines with all 

 the others in the potato. [Dr. S. made a sketch upon the 

 blackboard showing the lines and fibres of which he spoke.] 

 By cutting a potato longitudinally, you will see these lines 

 brought out in different parts of the potato, and it will also 

 be seen that those lines have a distinct direction in the potato. 

 I will not dwell upon that, but simply state that, in our experi- 

 ments, when the potato was cut across those^ lines, without 

 going down to the center, the crop was inferior to the crop 

 where the cut included those lines clear down to the center. 

 The point is, that in cutting, it is necessary to include this 

 branch-like appearance which runs down into the potato. 



