The Seeds of Potatoes. 



In the January, 1916, number of this 

 magazine there was an article by the 

 editor on the seeds of potatoes. That 

 article has attracted widespread atten- 

 tion and in many respects has been mis- 

 represented. It opened with the fol- 

 lowing statement : 



"Thirteen years ago I originated the 

 annual summer school of nature study 

 at the Connecticut Agricultural Col- 



to the fruiting berries of the common 

 potato, he exclaimed, 'All these berries 

 have disappeared from the state. I will 

 give twenty-five dollars for one found 

 within Connecticut.' " 



Though that offer was made in a 

 classroom from the oratorical rather 

 than the financial point of view, the ex- 

 perience of the subsequent years proves 

 it. In all that time not one fully de- 

 veloped potato ball has been found in 



POTATO SEED BALLS. 



Natural size 



lege, Storrs, Connecticut, and was the 

 director of the first session. One of the 

 members of the staff at that session 

 was Professor Gully, the horticulturist 

 of the college. This expert in garden 

 products made one day an astonishing 

 statement that I thought was intended 

 to be oratorical rather than literally 

 financial- When discoursing in regard 



the state of Connecticut. The balls 

 have also quite largely disappeared 

 from various other places. However 

 they are not extinct and no one has 

 ever claimed that they are extinct- In 

 some places in Maine and Montana and 

 in the far South the seed balls have been 

 obtained in fairly large quantities. Of 

 course the offer of twentv-five dollars 



