Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1883-05-12
The Potato (SOlanum TuberO.
sum }.

GUM u
Farmers Home Journal.
Men of science, absorbed in special
ties, are like pioneers in any army:
they point the route, but the main
work remains in their wake. In claim.
ing that the "eye of the potato, when
matured, ceases to draw nourishment
from the bulbs with which it is sur
rounded, | know that differ with the
accepted authorities, but | do not run
counter to any established truths of
botany or physiology. And until do
that, | claim that am MS competent as
any scientist to draw conclusions from
established data. Your intelligent cor
resondent, "Rusticus" contests my the
ory, in just and impartial criticism,
which makes it necessary for me to sum
up my former experiences and
strengthen my reasoning. | call the
potato bulb because it is more def
nile, and allied, in structure, to the
many bulbs, with which we are famil-
lar as the onion, tulip, etc., and be-
cause it is not swollen "root or STEM
as Webster defines it. | claim That it
is the matrix or womb of that plant
and that it contains the ovules or germs
of the potato, ripening the same and
covering it against the external de-
structions till the time for the separate
existence of the plant comes, whet its
Office ceases. The existence of all ami.
nal and vegetable entities are contin-
uous. Thus with animals, the ovum or
miniature progeny is matured in its
matrix till it is capable Of self-existence,
when the support Of the mother ceases,
and the new animal derives its subsis.
tence from new sources by its own for.
ces. So in the plant, the ovule is the
seed, which, when matured, is separa-
ted from the matrix and the mother
forever. The "eye" of the potato then
is more nearly the embryo and reaI
seed than a bud: as much so as if the
potato ball, or sometimes seed, did
never exist. The bud Of tree is but
suspended aggregation of eyes by
which it grows, ever continuing the
same: consequently the bud is not, il
fact, an ovum, as il lacks one of the es
senhal parts of an embryo root. 1t il
true that roots may be formed by cut
ting the scions ola tree, but they come
not from the bud and are not in any
sense part Of it,
Now, in the seed, all parts of thu
plant or animal are comprised. The
"eye" of the potato does not grow by
the sap of the potato even as claimed
by Rusticus. They do not form a par
of the living body. The potato of las
year is dead forever, and the new EN-
bryo only lives, supporting itself from
its own organization and resources
Let us now see how other seed anC
plants are formed and grow. In tn,
watermelon, with which have beer
familiar from youth, the eatable hesl
is the matriX, in which the seed ar
formed. From the stem that joins tn
melon to the vine, small fllets run al
through the meat and on to these tn
seeds are attached by the small end
Whilst the melon is green, no doubt
the flesh aids the structure of the seed
but when the seed are ripe this function
ceases, and the seed-embryo is alread
for selfexistence as soon as the nev
surroundings take place. Now hoy
does the watermelon seed grow
When it is planted and heat and moi;
ture surround it, the embryo swell,
thrusts out its pointed root, and su.
tanning itself by nutriment from tn
ground, expands into vine. by carr
fully severing the seed skin, and oper