402 Transactions of tee American Institute. 



not to be discouraged by like circuinstances. It once happened to 

 me, that, after carefully cutting a hundred pieces of potatoes with- 

 out eyes, and having each piece examined by three different persons, 

 so as to be certain that no eye was visible, I was called away from 

 the field. On returning, I found that one of my men had thrown 

 them in the pig-pen, as, according to his explanation, " they were 

 not good for anything; they had no eyes on them." It required 

 more than ordinary strength of mind to repeat the same tedious 

 experiment. 



If I have occupied the valuable time of those present longer 

 than anticipated, allow me to remind you that the value of the 

 potato crop to this country is so great, and the loss during the 

 past season has been so severe, that we cannot give too much atten- 

 tion to so important a subject. The average potato crop in the 

 United States, during a favorable season, amounts to 150,000,000 

 bushels, which, at one dollar a bushel, are worth $150,000,000; 

 equaling the interest on our whole national debt. The yield of 

 the past season, throughout the whole extent of our country, has 

 hardly been half a crop, making a loss of 75,000,000 bushels, equal 

 to $75,000,000. Such an enormous loss on one crop, in a single 

 season, is well worth the consideration of every intelligent agricul- 

 turist; the more so, as this loss has to be suffered by those who are 

 the least able to bear it. The potato is the poor man's food. He 

 looks for it Avhen he is thrown out of employment, and has to live 

 on the cheapest he cmi procure. 



Are there no means to prevent the disasters of such a season, as 

 the season of 1867 has been? Do we not have intelligence enough 

 in our country to investigate the causes of failure, and find means 

 for its prevention? There can be more honor achieved in agricul- 

 ture than in any other department of science. The man who shows 

 us how to restore the potato to its original vigor and productive- 

 ness, will be as honored a benefactor of the human race as has ever 

 lived; and he will be a great as hero as the general who wins a 

 hundred battles. 



In Europe, where everything is regulated by the governments, 

 there ai'e experimental farms to investigate agricultural matters. 

 Here we have no such institution, and it is doubtful whether much 

 good would result from it if we had one. The climate and soils 

 are so varying in the different sections of om- continent, that the 

 results attained in one part would not apply to the others. Our 

 experimental farm extends from the North Pole to the Mexican 



