THE SWEET POTATO. 59 



statement, with the remark that the bulk of the pota- 

 toes sold as "Bardos" belong hi reality to the 

 variety "Southern Queen. 



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B. The System of CLAssiFiCATioisr. 



At present one system of classifying the varieties 

 of sweet potatoes is in use among experimenters, 

 but none among growers in general. That used by 

 experimenters, the foliage system, was elaborated by 

 Mr. Price, of the Texas station, and reported in 

 Bulletins 28 and 36 of that station. It classifies the 

 sweet potatoes in three groups Ijy the typical shape 

 of their leaves, and then describes each variety 

 separately. But as no key is given further than that 

 referring to the foliage, it is of course not possible 

 to determine a special variety, if the name be 

 unknown or doubtful; for to comjiare it with all 

 varieties described under that group and to be still 

 left in doubt as to whether the variety was repre- 

 sented at all, is of course an uncertain and unsatis- 

 factory method. 



Mr. Price deserves great credit for introducing 

 some order into the previous chaos, and the writer 

 acknowledges that the "foliage system" of Mr. Price 

 was one of the early stimuli which induced him to 

 work on the classification of varieties. 



To give an idea of how necessary it is at present 

 to describe certain standards closely may be seen 

 from the following. Below are given extracts from 

 various bulletins published at our experiment sta- 

 tions, the descriptions of one of the best-known 

 varieties, "Southern Queen." 



Mr. Price describes it as follows: 



Round leaved, foliage pale green, sometimes 

 prominently notched on one side, vines very vig- 



