220 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



called it " a school where hayseeds and greasy 

 mechanics were taught to hoe potatoes, pitch 

 manure and be dry nurses to steam engines." We 

 were even dubbed a " Godless, fresh-water college 

 planted in Ezra Cornell's potato patch," by the 

 students of one of the older New England Col- 

 leges. These and many other things of the same 

 sort were hard to bear, for at that time we were 

 not sure that we should laugh last 



Although we had lost the experiment station 

 we went on with research work and published our 

 results in three good-sized bulletins (1879-1885), 

 the expense of printing being borne by that gener- 

 ous and sympathetic woman, the late Jennie Mc- 

 Graw-Fiske, who was deeply concerned with the 

 welfare of the University. 



THE .FEDERAL EXPERIMENT STATION AT 

 CORNELL 



In March, 1887, Congress passed a general act 

 establishing agricultural experiment stations 

 throughout the country. This act provided 

 $15,000 annually for each State and Territory with 

 which to conduct investigations in agriculture and 

 to publish a detailed report of them. The first 

 question to be solved in most of the States was 



