9o8 Rural School Leaflet 



thus preparing his seed the farmer makes cuttings of the potato, although 

 he does not realize it. 



But beside this underground storehouse the potato produces seed also, 

 when grown under natural conditions. When I was a child, among my 

 treasures were potato balls — the little greenish yellow or purplish balls 

 that ripen from the flowers and are about the size of an ordinary marble. 

 They consist of many seeds in a juicy pulp, something like a compact 

 little tomato. But of late years it is only occasionally that these seed 

 balls are produced in our potato fields. New varieties are started, 

 however, by cross-pollinating the flowers and growing the seeds thus 

 produced. 



The potato blossom is very pretty. It is a five-pointed star of white or 

 pale purple. The lobes of the corolla are ruffled at the edges, but smooth 

 and greenish at the base; at the center is a brilliant yellow pyramid, 

 consisting of five large anthers pressed closely together. At the center 

 of this pyramid protrudes the green style of the pistil, quite beyond the 

 tip of the anther cone. There are five long, slender sepal lobes to the 

 calyx, which is sticky and hairy like the stem, being covered with short 

 white hairs. 



Those blossoms that are near the tip of the stem open first, and after- 

 ward those near the main stem open. The buds droop until ready 

 to blossom, when they rise to show their pretty faces to the world and 

 attract the visiting insects. 



lesson for the pupils 



Method. — This lesson should be given as early in September as pos- 

 sible. The pupils should have access to a potato field in order to make 

 the studies. The study of the tuber itself may be made in the school- 

 room. 



Observations for the pupils. — i. What is a potato' What is there about 

 a potato to make you think it is an enlarged stem ? Do you think that 

 the potato stem was enlarged to provide food for us or for the next 

 year's potato plant? 



2. Examine a potato. Has it a stem at both ends? With what is 

 this stem connected? Does the potato lie in the ground above or below 

 the roots of the plant ? Are the roots ever attached to the potato tubers ? 



3. How does the potato tuber differ from that of the sweet potato? 

 From that of the crocus? From a beet or a turnip? What is the 

 difference between an underground stem and a root? 



4. Examine carefully the eye of a potato. Of what does it consist? 

 Describe the " eyebrow." Do you know what this little scale represents? 

 Are the " eyebrows " on the underside of the eye, or are they nearer the 



