Smithsonian receives first farm tile. Washington, D.C., May 6. Dr. C.G. Abbott of the Smithsonian Institute (left) and Professor B.B. Ross (right) Agriculture Engineer of Cornell University who dug up the 190 year old sections from the John Johnston Farm on the shore of Seneca Lake, Seneca County, New York. This tile works so well that some of the tile lines are still in use. This tile is of the old horeshoe variety, and laid in 1835, 5/6/1937