Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1880-11-25

potat"cs fr,m thoroughly r,pene'l vines
(atd. so tar :tS my observation goes. they
.i") they need have no fear OF planting small
POTATOES. At least. such is n'y4 judgment,
formed from several years experience and
experiment in regard t., the matter.
Again. Mr.. Hewes confoun,ls tui,ers and
seeds. Il is true that in common parle,n4
we call potatoes designed tor planting
''sred p"'aMWs." And this. perhaps. il
well en"ngh. But. in treating of ,nal,,,
ana immature seeds. TO speak vt a pnt;,toe as
Il seed Is, to say tie best, unphilosophic,.I
and misleading. The tnber is nn more the
seed OF the potnto plant than is the bulb ol
''l"t'l"n its seed. ur the branches ot un an
pie its seeds. An immature potato, there
lore, Is NOT an Immature ">eetl;' bur. cor
'rc'ly Speaking. an immature end OF a sub
tereanan i'ral.ci, or an im,na,l,reIy ,eyel-
opp enlargement of such Il bruncll-an in-
n!ature lubel.
Again. one OF Your correspondents SAYS.
p. 564: lit understand MI. llrwrs rDrrpr,-
". lie claims that >exuaity exists in Tie
HE '"her; that .Ile fertilization occurs il,
'l'e flower. and is transmitted through, tho
vine to the Iuher. How can this he?'' IN
reply I" this question. Mr.. H. says, ..Lel
me answer il Yankee style !,y asking an-
"''ler. Ii il IL not there. where is il? How
came the potato ilnM erS Nv their sexual
Where uii spxunIity r.si,l.
'r"'n The death Hover and vine in the lut..
summer until the growll, o! flowers IN tIe
following summer? This is il. answer
whatever. Il only shows Mr.. Hewes' in
1pI'ty to prove his position. A tuhcr is no
n"re possessed of sexuality than il tI,r
'ralcil ut q tree. Nor is there anythinv
MAJ am aware OF to indicate that i, is.
n1 yet Mr. Hewes imagines that tile eyes.
nat is the Leaf buds, ut the stem end of q
ofat0c are male. while. those at the eye end
re female Such ap, ida. ! had heard II i,y,a
"a q IN ssassss.si srsi.ssssrs.il
eiglibors, | s!ould have pronounced it The
nst arrant nonsense; hut. coming as ii
,es from higher source, ought perhaps
, he more lenient with 1t. Still. | .lO ilOl
now that it deserves a much better name
hen coming from the quarter which it
id. 1t would be quite as sensible 10 say
nat the leaf buds on The larger end of an
pple branch. tor instance. are male buds.
'hilr those towards the extremity are fenple;
, which ease one might we'll ask. what
'oul,' BE- the sex Of the midway buds? But.
pally. neither the buds Of All apple tree no,
he eyes Of IL tuher are either male or te.
male. The tutMr. properly speaking. is
Vi hout sex. 1t is the flower alone that pos
eSses sexlmlity. Nor is il As Mir Hrwes
Gems to suppose when nsese language like
his ''ls the sprout. as it starts tlOn, the
,lher entirely destitute OF sexual character.
nd yet, upon obtaining it's growth. is SUR
Mounted hy perfectly developed male or
en,aie tlowpr?" Or like tins, '.Dose not
he tuher impart to the vine all the charac-
eristics "f it's kind. so that it can produce a
lew growth Of tuber, staminate aud pistil-
ale:' &c. Ii Mr.. HI. knew the true charac-
er Of potatOe blossoms. he could not speak
# them as ''stami,,ate aud pisliliate, or Us
male and fenlale'' flowers. Such flowers
nay be found on cornstalks. squash and
melon vines, and OH variety Of other
,lamts. But potato blossoms, like apple
blossom. contain each in itself the male I
md female organs. In other words, eacl,
'lossom is perfect in itself; it is neither u
male nor a female flower. A potatoe vine III
blossom is, therefore. surmounted simply
" MOWERS possessing the organs Of repro
|uction, the male and female elements Of
lie plant. Fertilization occurs III l,e flower.
md is impaired to the seed. and to that
'nly. 1t the seed f,.ils, the fertilzing pow
# of the flower is lost. Were not the
lrength Of the vine spent in in,par,ing
vigor and growth to the tn.
YER, potatoe blossoms would undoubtedly
produce seed more frequently than they do.
3ut. so far as the sexual character Of the
,otatoe is concerned, that lies wholly in the
lower, not in the tuber.-Cor. Country
Gentleman.
OUR WHEAT CROP.