The Red Cloud chief., 1901-05-31

should establish in the wcqt Indies n
laboratory or economic botany. to under
take , course " Investigations parallel tn
thD' ~ the laboratory which rrof.
Chntlcs $. Sargent at the Arnold arborc.
~tum.auothrr botanical department W the
university hopes to establish IN Arizona
for the study Of the utTcrcnt varieties "
cactus. THE project for such u West In.
diau botanical laboratory has already
secured the promise VI some financial MS
s%istancc. and ~ Mt present receiving scri.
Gus consideration iu hope that the whole
amount necessary to establish 1t will
shortly bc forthcoming.
rructically all that has been said In
relation to tho degeneration of the sugar
cane may also he said of the potato.
This useful vegetable. II Is interesting to
note. belongs To- the nightshadc family.
"a It's botanical name, "Solanum tubcro.
sum" indicates, the cummon poisonous
nightshadc being the "Snlnnum nigrum. q"
The potato has been found wild In Mex
leo and South America. and was taken
to- England by Sir Walter Raleigh to-
ward the close of the sixteenth century.
II Is unnecessary to refer to the Cnor-
NOUS quantities Of potatoes annually eat
cu In Europe and America. IL Is sufii-
Client to say that when the potato dis
ease appeared IN 1915 II produced "A fam
I'm" In many localities. particularly In
IRELAND. where for years POTATOES had
been the CHIEF article OF food among the
lower classes.
tn" potato IL among TN" cheapest u
Hl the cultivated foods, and while II IL
generally known that II Is reproduced 10y
budding. pieces OF the tubcr containing
eyes being placed In the ground. most
readers will he surprised to- learn that
potato seed IL an almost unhcard Of curt
oSity. In the museum Of economic bot
any NJ Harvard there are models of pota-
To plants including the pink and whit"
blossoms and the grapc-likc fruit, but
this cd-containing fruit has become ~
nearly extinct that few people. even from
the agricultural districts of the country.
have ever seen u. In the models. how
ever, II II clearly shown that the potato
In closely related to the tomato. and tho
two-ccllcd arrangement of seeds IN very
similar In the original fruit of both
plants.
From time to time new varieties OF the
potato have been developed by the cross
Ing Of the seed. but this requires II some
what costly experiment. which IN quite
as likely to prove n failure as n success.
The first years crop OF tubcrs from u
planting Of seed liz generally too small
for commercial use, so that the seeding
process has of late years been almost en-
tircly discontinued The budding method
OF propagation has been carried on TO
such NJ extent that II is the rule for
the blossoms To withcr without fructi1ca-
tion, and even In the exceptional eases
where fruit appears II Is generally seed
loss and barren. II IN largely due To- an
cnthusia site horticulturist. Mr.. Luther
burbank of Santa Rosa. CAT, that the
seed of the potato Is to-day being perpct-
uatcd. Mr.. burbank has produced many
new and valuable varieties of piums,
peaches and strawberries by crossing.
and VIII n It became known that the po-
tato was detcrioiatlng and becoming
half wlttcd." IA Mr.. Dandcno of the
Harvard botanical depart mcnt has aptly
expressed II, he went to great pains Ia
secure seeds To use In the restoration oi
the species. AZ u rule the small amount
of seed which now survives the descnera.
ton OF tn" plant IL likely to rot away
Immediately. so hat the greatest car,
and skill are required to secure tn,
growth of seed plants. However, ns II
the case Of the sugar cane. as the com
mon varieties are shown, by contrast will
the hybrids. to he less valuable. the warn
ing of the botanis.s II being needed. and
as has been seen, science In being Gale,
upon to point out the means OF relief.