The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-08-16
FARMER s. MECHANIC.
BUTTONS ON TRE POTATO TOPS
They're Not Tomatoes But TIC Seed
OF the POtato@NOf NeEy Hut Oh

Ao& A~ ~A
OF the Potato@Not New But Old
The following from The lexington
Dispatch is going the rounds az the
Somew here we have read that
Burnank, the wizard out III California
who can gather Egs OF thisri1s and
make dollars GroH Ike apples an the
Trees. has Perfected L plant be calls
the potato. a combination Of the
tomato and Irish potato LaAt pro
dlces potatoes underground and To-
naloes on top Last week We saw
Slch Il c~GmoIaaCon- but BurhaIE had
nothing TO 60 with It Mr. w h
Hunt. 81 TITO. fetched i Hucch al
potato tops TO town, iingln 70 " EFch
were small green balls that booked ike
young ~n12t0 and which, when CIT
open. revealed an array CT seals sust
Ike z toInato- The plants pro Iuced
IRISH potatoes IN the ordinary way.
Mr. Hunt plants the Copper po-
tatoes, and says that after several
seasons the seed vii run out, that
is the type OF potato changes from
spotted 10 all Nhite or ali blue Ilhers.
Last spring he planted new seed 0ut
cid not have quite enough 20 finish
out a row. SO he planted some or the
potatoes ne had raised last year LAST
year he had tomatoes near the pota-
toes, but none this year In tie
part Of the row where he planted the
home-Taised tUbers -hese tops grew
which produced the Ionatoes-
There is nothing new under the
sun, IN this case at least Burbank
may nave perfected a plant that pro
duces potatoes under the ground and
tomatoes on top. but The Landmark
is from Missouri on that propositions;
and it has the goods to show that
what.theDispatch saw isn't something
new and ISN'T tomatoes at 2H w hen
Mr.. z. K. Murdoch, of StatesvilIe,
read the Dispatch article he dropped
into the Landmark office TO tell Just
how it is; and Mr. Murdoch is from
Alexander county, it may be remark
ed parentheticaliy, and he Knows In
addition to this advantage IL nativity
he has improved by long residence in
Iredell.
IN the old days, before the war be-
tween the states and for some years
thereafter, Tor that matter, farmers
raised their oNn seed pota-oeS, The
didn't send North for everything in
those dayS-1nd it f0ay be remarked
here, quoting the late Uncle Jack"
Sullivan, of StatasyiIle, that when
rme raised their own seed they
didn't have all these cuseed bugs
and insects that eat up Il plants.
Well. in that day and time every
farmer cithcr kept his own seed or
I SoS ecu bEio N'N
was by no means for the
Irish potato tops 90 have the little
buttons on them resembling Il tomato,
seed inside and all. But this button
isn't a tomato nor any part OF II
The seed Will produce potatoes, just
as the buttons on onion OPP Will pro-
/ Guce onions. If the seed potatoes
run out, as they viii sometimes II you
keep on planting from the same seed.
YOU can plant the seed in these but
tons and bring on potatoes that will
do for seed, somewhat as one "beds'
sweet potatoes to set the slips.
Mr.. Purdoch VAS but a lad IN the
DAYS of which he speaks, bat this is
the way he senses the so-called
tomato business, and he has Mr..
r. B. Joyner for a witness, if anybody
is disposed to call him. There are
plenty Of folks however, who have
seer buttons on Irish potato tops, al
though they may not nave known
what they were for.
It is not for the younger
generation to find something which
they think is entirely new, when as a
matter of fact 1t is as old as the
hills" The other day a writer on
one Of the daily newspapers was
making great niration over the word
( "outened" as something nav. He
had heard q witness in court, or some
body, say something about having
'.outened' the light. "Outened" has
peer in use for generations among
people close to the soil.
Moral: When you think you have
! discovered something, call IN some OF
the old men for cCunsel
--aI ~ rnsga .ony-