Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-15
WILD POTATO HUNT
!. STAGED IN MEXICO
Department of Agriculture
Men From Here Want Speci-
mems to Improve Species.


ment of Agriculture now are in Mexico
hunting for wild potatoes.
The potato, first domesticated by
South American Indians centuries be-
fore the discovery of the New World, has
become too civilized, it is explained by
Department of Agriculture specialists.
1t needs new blood"
So Max Souviron and Carl ErlandSon
are combing the mountains south of
Mexico City for uncultivated members
of the nightshade family, of which the
"spud" is the most distinguished mem
Der not even excepting its cousin the
tomato which produce tuberS and which
may be crossed with the domestic plant.
1t is a serious matter. Already German
and Russian explorers nave gone over
much of the ground and gathered up
every variety which promises to be OF
value. The potato is almost the "Staff
of life" for their peoples. Also II
American States have entered upon a
cooperative program with the Depart
ment of Agriculture, of which the MeXi-
can expedition is a part.
Potato Getting Old.
Not that the potato is in any i'm
mediate danger of being wiped out, ex-
pAetlllo LII Wlllldul obudL Y, NGVSidll PO
tato specialist of the Department OF
Agriculture, but it is getting old and
keeping it in good health is expensive.
Potatoe diseases, barely recognized 20
years ago, are becoming more virulent-
especially those malaofeS which are
caused by filterable vlruSes, submicro-
scopic organisms which are the minutest
known forms of life, and which are
spread by plant lice and carried over
from season to season in the tubers used
for seed These diseases can be kept
under control only by the most rigid
seed selection. Bigger and better po-
tatoes have been secured through the
centuries only by sacrifice of some OF
the natural resistance of the plant.
Now, it is explained, any wild rela-
tiveS which Souviron and Erlandson
find in Mexican mountains will be
hardy, at least in their own environ
ment. This is evidenced by the very
fact that they have survived so many
centuries ION their own" They have
had no patient nurses to pick bugs off
them, root up weeds which threatened
to choke them, or spray them with
fungicides. Yet they have lived.
In themselves these wild potatoes are
worthless. Their tubers, for the most
part, are no bigger than large peas
But they have those qualities of dis
mitted to their offspring. Most of them
also will tend to pass on the small size
of their tubers. The objective will be
an ideal combination in which the
hardness of the wild parent and the
tuber size of the domestic parent both
will be genetically dominant. This will
require thousands of crosses and the
discarding Of many thousands of plants
Was "OId" When Found.
When white men first found the do
meStic potato, it is explained, it was
already an ''old" plant, and almost GER
tainly a hybrid obtained in some way
by prehistoric Indians of Peru or Chile
It was taken to Spain and spread slowly
over Europe. Then it was introduced
into North America by group of Irish
colonists at Londonderry, N. H, anC
from thence spread over the Colonies
The legend that it was grown by In
dams In Virginia and thence brought
to Europe has little foundation. No.
body has been able to trace the wild
species from which it sprang-othel
than the broad group of tuber- bearing
Magistrates.
These early potatoes were small
probably not very appetizing, and quite
hardy. Then, early in the nineteenth
century, the plant breeders started the
production of bigger tubers, which has
continued ever since Despite its lone
life in domesticity, it is explained al
the Department of Agriculture, the po-
tato still crosses readily with its wild
relatives, but thus far the breeding
work has met with little success.
Besides potatoes which have a nat
ural resistance to the filterable virus
and other diseases the Department Of
Agriculture and the cooperating State:
are trying to develop varieties more re-
sistant to early and late frosts and va
rieties which will thrive in all parts OF
the country. Any Of these characters
may be obtained from wild relative
Souviron and GRANDSON will pick ur
anything they can find growing wild
regardless of how unpromising it looks
| SO long as it is a tuber-bearing member
| of the nightshade family. Many OF
these already have been sent to Wash
ington, where it is hoped to build up q
collection of wild potatoes for expert
mental purposes as large as the one
| now accumulated in Russia, where Sini-
lar breeding work is in progress.