EXPERIMENTS IN POTATO CULTURE. Ill 



and how much more fully we would realize the progress we 

 have made, could we have for examination true pictures of 

 the grain fields, the gardens, the different animals, fruits and 

 vegetables of a hundred years ago ! But the greatest advan- 

 tage of a picture record is in furnishing the means by which 

 more correct conclusions can be drawn as to the value of any 

 particular method to secure a desired result. 



A photograph is not only a lasting record, but it is a true 

 record, which, in most cases, cuts off highly colored state- 

 ments of enthusiastic experimenters. The photographic art 

 is of so recent discovery that our ancestors could not, if they 

 had desired to, preserve the true picture forms of their farm 

 products ; so we cannot accuse them of not doing their duty, 

 because they did not preserve in picture form their farm 

 crops. But not so with us. We have the means by which 

 nearly every step of progress and every mistake in agricul- 

 ture can be easily and correctly recorded, and if we neglect 

 to do it, we shall neglect a duty we owe to posterity. This 

 is a work so important that it should not be left to be done 

 by individual effort, but it should receive State and United 

 States aid ; and thus, by combined efforts, every important 

 experiment and every step of progress could be gathered up 

 and deposited at central points for future examination and 

 comparison. 



Let us make some effort to have a small portion of the 

 money which our government spends so liberally used for 

 making picture records of carefully tried experiments, made 

 at our experiment stations, and thus begin the work of pre- 

 serving in true forms, for the use of posterity, as well as 

 our own instruction, whatever may be of value or of interest. 



The Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agricul- 

 ture has, with its usual generosity, paid most of the expense 

 of the views that I am about to show you, and also paid for 

 forty-nine photographs to be deposited at the Experimental 

 Station at Amherst. The very quiet and eflScicnt manner in 

 which this society is aiding agricultural progress is worthy 

 of all praise, and should receive the thanks of every friend 

 of agriculture. 



The land upon which the experiments I am about to bring 

 to your notice were tried was a light, sandy loam. It had 



