Patterson] POTA TOES A ND OATS AS NATURE STUD Y TOPICS li29 



were using, not a seed but an underground stem to propagate 

 new plants. 



A cross section was made of the tuber, and the different 

 structures noted. The pupils found the covering, the dark line, 

 which they were told corresponded to the woody part of a tree 

 stem, and the mass of white material in the center. What was this 

 substance? The children scraped two or three potatoes and 

 placed the pulp in glasses of water, stirring it thoroughly. These 

 were set aside. The next day a layer of white showed in the 

 bottom of each glass. All the pulp and water were drained off, 

 boiling water was poured over the white mass and we had a third 

 of a glassful of quite respectable laundry starch. The older 

 students made the iodine test for starch. 



What value was the starch to the potato, was the next 

 problem. The potatoes that had been left in a light, warm room 

 during the winter were now examined. They had vigorous up- 

 right shoots more than half an inch in diameter with a number of 

 leaves well developed. The tubers were shriveled and wrinkled. 

 It seemed evident that some of the contents had been used in the 

 growth of the shoots. But the pupils questioned, would the same 

 thing happen if the tubers were planted in the ground. This 

 problem was solved later in the term when a few plants were 

 removed from the ground and the seed piece studied. In some 

 cases nothing was left but the peeling with a little liquid inside. 

 Other pieces were only partially used up. 



The study of the tuber was followed by preparation for 

 planting. Numerous questions had to be settled ; the depth of 

 planting, the distance apart of the rows, and of the hills, and 

 whether whole tubers, or parts should be planted. 



The fourth grade children decided to plant the main part of 

 their plot with pieces containing two eyes. However, they wished 

 to see whether different sized pieces might produce different yields. 

 They planted four hills with whole, half, and quarter potatoes, 

 respectively, and four with mere bits of peelings each containing 

 a single eye. When they harvested their crop and weighed the 

 yields they found that the half potatoes gave the best results, the 

 quarters next, and the one eye pieces were the poorest of all. 



The eighth grade boys and members of the nature-study 

 classes of the Normal department carried on a number of inter- 

 esting experiments. They had studied fungi the fall before and 

 had noted among other fungous diseases the potato scab. The 



