Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1905-05-26

serve. There are people in Santa Rosa
who have eaten the potato fruit and its
preserve and are delighted with it.
Mr.. Burbank has named the potato
fruit 'pomatO." When compared with
Il tomato the pomato is smaller in size
and its meat is white instead of red. 1t
is higher Favored. In other words. its
flavor is that of fruit rather than
vegetable Burbank speaks of the ere
alton of the pOmato as resulting from
The turning of the plant life in an oppo-
site direction.
Instead of cultivating tubers we
now cultivate fruit. and the tubcrs are
OF secondary consideration he says,
the fruit on the vine being the main
object"
The pomato has not been sent out as
vet. 1t must be more nearly perfect
before it leaves its creators hands for
the world at large.
But to return to the potato expert
ments. Chief among the experimental
work with the tu0erS was and is the
crossing of the SOllnum commersoni,
wild species of the potato which grows
on the Mercedes river. in South Amer
lea, with the common potato. The
aforenamed potato was discovered some
ten years ago, and specimens were TAX
en- to Paris, and for almost a decade
DR.. Heckel studied and tried to by
bridize it, Finally he sent Luther Bur
bank a single eye and twelve months
after the distinguished scientist com
menced his experiments he had Sc
cured 10 hybrid seedlings from it.
Burbank is also experimenting with
another new species of tuber-the So
lanum mag.i, which grows Oh the west
coast of South America i'll the high
mountains. He also has other yarie-
ties, including the hardy potatoes that
grow in some parts Of the n.aius in
Arizona, in Central America anu in the
high mountainous country of Old MeXi-
co. The hardy qualities of these wild
potatoes, SO to speak. are being com
bined with the ordinary tuber, which
has to certain extent almost run its
race of service.
Here is the kind of new potato Mr.
Burbank will produce: 1t will be better
in quality, better in flavor, more pro-
ductive and of more even size, so as to
do away with small potatoes atOgeth
er, and, then, reserving the best quality
and most important TO the last, pota
to that will resist the various diseases
known to these tubers. The res Stant
feature, Mr. Burbank said, is the most
difficult of the creative work.
Mr.. Burbank further explained that
the common potato. the Soianum tu-
berosum, has practically lost the power
TO produce seed balls. Crossing the old
varieties with the new ones will neces-
sarly result in the introduction of new
varieties that will have new qualities.
About how many varieties of pota-
toes have you on hand now, Mr.. Bur
bank was asked, with which you
are experimenting to produce the new
potatoes?"
over 10000" was the ready re-
sponse. Most of the 10000 varieties
are hybrid seedlings of Mr.. Burbank's
own creation. These have been pro-
duced by crossing, followed by careful
inspection, testing and selection. Mr..
Burbank recently commenced the
planting of the 10000 varieties on his
experimental grounds. The potatoes
are of all kinds and shapes, some
round, some square, some long, some
short, of all colors of the rainbow.
There are pure white tubers and black
ones. Pink, red, crimson, purple, yel-
/ low, are among the colors of the pota-
toes that are being planted. When the
harvest time comes in the fall possibly
| all but hundred varieties out of the
| 10000 may be rejected, and the follow
ing year probably this number will be
reduced two-thrds, and so on until per-
fection is attained.
1t will take two or three years at
least, Mr. Burbank said, to produce the
new potato, as all the varieties must
be put through the testing process.