The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-03-27

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question refectively.
Il don't know. I'm sure. In this
country the potato is. practically
speaking. in it's infancy. On the other
side. they have been specializing.
France. for instance. grow a variety
especially adapted for salads. Ger
many produces some that are particu-
larry good for the manufacture Of
starch and alcohol.
You see. the potato is just like a
person. lie responds to exactly the
san influences and conditions. Sup
pose ] &c into a southern climate. /
get lanEuid. When it is hot in the
middle of the day. ! nave no desire to
work. 1t is exactly the same with the
potato. Take him from the cold eli
mate of Maine or northern New York.
and plant him along the south Atlantic
coast. In a season or so he gets lazy.
He doesn't grow 80 quickly. o has he
the general vitality of his northern
relatives.
That is the reason the southern
grower sends north for his seed. He
wants e supply the early markets, and
he needs a strain that is quick. lively
and vigorous.
We find tho same resemblance to
ourselves when We begin to improve
the breeds of plants. We have to
consider not only the individual. but
his family and the conditions under
which he was raised. That is why We
have secured h whole world. liter
ally, TO get the best varieties procur-
able. From them we are trying to
produce strains that will be:
"First-More resistant to disease
than those now cultivated.
"Second-Bettcr adapted to special
conditions"
To do this, Professor Corbett and
his assistants arc proceedings in cN-
actly The same ann as If the po-
tato We're a horse or n human being.
They arc selecting the fittest of all
they produce, and growing from them.
And for combining various strains.
they arc resortinS to what is known
as hand %pollination. 1t is a pretty
though a terribly tedious process. Not
every one knows, in these days Of
o~vcr-crowded cities, that h potato
can reproduce itself in two ways
from its seeds and from its ''eyes."
AS it is impossible to "cross' the eyes
the breeders must resort to the flow
ers that produce the seeds. That
means that every potato must be
e~masculated. The male. or pollen.
element is carefully cut away, and the
delicate stigma. thus exposed. must be
p%ollinated by hand from the plant
with which it is desired to effect a
cross.
Consider, then. the work that is be.
hind those 10000 potato seedlings
that arc relied upon to produce three
"thoroughbred' strains to take the
place Of the "mongrels" now grown.
Yet it is we'll worth while. For, as
Professor Corbett says:
There is the Virginia trucking in
dustr., which amounts to about s12.-
100000, half of which is in potatoes.
There is no ideal variety to supply
the demand.
Need Quick Growers.
What these truckers need is a po-
tato that will develop five tubers the
size of A DOS egg very quickly. They
plant about the end of February and
must have their crop ready for the
market by June.
"All along the coast. from Florida
to Long Island. there is a trucking belt
which requires the same variety. We
are trying to produce it.
For the rest of the country. what is
needed is a long-season potato. of
good size. that will resist the blight
or rot. At present. it is no rare thing
for a late attack of blight to obliter-
ate an entire crop over large sections
of country.
Nov. we find that some strains
are more resistant to the blight than
others. Just as some human beings are
moro resistant to disease than others.
So we arc taking the healthiest varie-
ties we can produce and breeding
from them"
OF course, size and shap De are to be
considered. as we'll as these special
qualities. and in the breeding opera
tions each hill Of tubers may be con-
sidered as a family. One of the illus
trations will show this.
From one hill there comes a lot of
Scrubs" such as were formerly used
for seed. Even il. from these scrubs"
offspring will be mostly SCRUBS If
the hig potato comes from a Scrub
family. his offspring are more likely
to correspond to the family than to
the individual.
On the other hand. look at the fine.
large, robust lot of tubers that come
from a "selected' hill. BY a long
process of elimination. the scrubs"
have been bred out Of this family. The
best only have been bred from. Just
as the English bred from the win
ners" when they were developing tho
thoroushbred. The result is that the
little fellows are almost entirely elm
mated. Even when q small tuher ap-
pears it will not usually produce
scrubs. Instead, the chances are that,
il IT be cut up and planted. it's Off
spring will he big potatoes, because
they came from a large and robust
family.
All this, indeed. is but applying the
law of the survival of the tittcst to the
potato. 1t is doing arti1cially what
nature does more picturesquely, If
often less humanely. When animals
herd together. there are battles be-
tween the males for supremacy. The
victor often Stays his rivals. and thus
the strongest become the sires. Mol
l~ycoddles are eliminated and the strain
is saved from degeneration.
With the birds there is a similar
process. though in this case II more
often is bright plumage than prowess
sexes herd together and the males
strut proudly about. showing off their
gay coats, tails or crests, as the case
may be.
Man Must Assist Nature.
Naturally, a potato can't strut.
Therefore, to improve the breed, the
mind and hand of man are necessary.
Besides that, in nature the breed inn
proves, il at all. i~mpcrceptibly. There
There is a gradual evolution rather
than a quick change. On the con
trary. when only tho very finest of any
breed are mated, there is almost in
slant improvement.
In this instance. it is quite fit that
so gigantic a work in potato breeding
should be carried on in America. the
home Of the tuber that ~as afterward
to make Ireland famous.
Like corn and tobacco. the potato
was a native Of the new world. Prob
ably his first home was somewhere in