332 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the course of further experiment. It is only after four or five 

 years' cultivation that the character of the new seedlings can 

 be well ascertained ; and when it is well established in the mind 

 of the cultivator the public are slow to believe it, so that the 

 reputation of a potato is a work of many years, unless, like the 

 Rose, it falls into tlie hands of speculators who blazen its merits 

 for the sake of gain. After the labor of cultivating many thou- 

 sands of varieties, Mr. Goodrich found only ten or a dozen in all 

 respects worthy of general cultivation. No highly valuable 

 seedlings were produced from old and diseased varieties. In 

 the Garnet Chili, Early Goodrich, Gleason, Harrison and Rose 

 we have bases for still further improvement and every encour- 

 agement to hope for success. Mr. Goodrich has left us a rich 

 legacy in these potatoes, and more particularly in the minute 

 details of his experience, which he communicated to the public 

 in the Transactions of the New York State Agricultural Society 

 for 1863. We hope to see these experiments continued by some 

 equally disinterested, indefatigable and skillful laborer in this 

 department. Our Agricultural College can do the State no 

 better service than by originating good, healthy and produc- 

 tive varieties of this esculent. With potatoes at one dollar per 

 bushel, as they now are in the retail markets, they would be an 

 expensive luxury did not custom make them an indispensable 

 necessity. So far as mere nutrition is concerned, a poor man, 

 at present prices, can much better afford to buy flour for his 

 family than potatoes. If by the introduction of new and healthy 

 varieties, and an improved mode of cultivation, the average yield 

 per acre can be raised again to three hundred bushels, then the 

 farmer can better afford to sell potatoes at fifty cents than he 

 now can for one dollar. We commend this subject to the atten- 

 tion of the Board of Agriculture, to the trustees of the College, 

 to the farming community generally, and to all who own a 

 potato patch. 



This Report was accepted. 



Tlie Committee on Meetings was constituted by the appoint- 

 ment of Messrs. Hyde, Clark, Tliatcher, Plunkett, and the 

 Secretary. 



Voted, That all unfinished business be referred to the Commit- 

 tee on Printing, with full powers ; when the Board adjourned. 



