The Jennings daily record., 1902-06-24
should establish in the West Indies a


laboratory of economic botany. to under
take q course of Investigations parallel to
thai of the laboratory which Prof.
Charles S. Sargent of the Arnold arbore-
tum-another botanical department of the
university-hopes to establish in Arizona
for the study of the different varieties of
cactus. The project for such West In
dian botanical laboratory has already
secured the promise of some financial as
sistance, and is at present receiving seri-
Gus consideration in hope that the whole
amount necessary to establish it will
shortly be forthcoming.
Practically all that has been said in
relation to the degeneration of the sugar
cane may also be said of the potato.
This useful vegetable, 1T is interesting to
note, belongs to the nightshade family.
as it's botanical name. '.Solanum tubero-
sum- indicates, the common poisonous
nightshade being the ''Solanum nigrum."
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.
1t is unnecessary to refer to the enor-
nous quantities of potatoes annually eat
en- in Europe and America. 1t is suffi-
cient to say that when the potato dis
ease appeared in 1S45 it produced fam
inc in many localities. particularly in
Ireland, where for years potatoes had
lower classes.
The potato is among the cheapest Of
all the cultivated foods, and while it is
generally known that il is reproduced by
budding, pieces of the tuber containing
eyes" being placed in the ground. most
readers will be surprised to learn that
potato seed is an almost unheard of Curl
osity. In the museum of economic bot
any at Harvard there are models of pota-
TO rnla incl -la irl nd
blossoms and the grape-like fruit, but
this seed-containinE fruit has become SO
nearly extinct that few people, even from
the agricultural districts of the country,
have ever seen it. In the models. how
ever, it Is clearly shown that the potato
is closely related to the tomato. and the
two ceiied arrangement Of seeds is 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 a some
what costly experiment which is quite
as likely to prove failure success
The first years crop OF tubers from "A
planting of seed is generally too small
for commercial use, so that the seeding
process has OF late years been almost en-
tirely discontinued. The budding method
of propagation has been carried on to
such an extent that it is the rule for
the blossoms to wither without fructifica-
ton and even in the exceptional cases
where fruit appears it is generally seed
less and barren. 1t is largely due to an
enthusiastic hortiCulturist, Mr.. Luther
Burbank of Santa Rosa, Cal, that the
seed OF the potato is to-day being perpet-
uated. Mr.. Burbank has produced many
new and valuable varieties of plums.
peaches and strawb berries by crossing.
and when it became known that the po-
tato was det@rioratinE and becoming
"half-witted," as Mr.. Dandeno of the
Harvard botanical department has aptly
expressed it, ne went TO great pains to
secure seeds to use in the restoration of
the species. AS rule the small amount
of seed which now survives the degcncra-
ton of the plant is likely to rot away
Immediately, that the greatest care
and skill are required to secure the
SroWth of seed plants. However, as in
the case of the sugar cane. the com
mon varieties shown. by contrast with
the hybrids. to be less valuable, the warn
ing of the botansts is being needed, and
has been seen. science is being called
upon to point out the means of relief.