THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



The Seeds of Potatoes. 



BY EDWARD F. BIGIiLOW. 



Thirteen years ago I originated the 

 annnal summer school of nature study 

 at the Connecticut Agricultural Col- 

 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 horticultur- 



five dollars, but I wanted the satisfac- 

 tion of proving that the professor was 

 in error. Potato balls? It seemed 

 only yesterday that I saw them lying 

 on the ground by the quart, the peck, 

 the half bushel! Potato balls? I re- 

 member hurling them from the end of 

 a sharp stick with almost the accuracy 

 of a catapult. 



AN ATTRACTIX'E CLUSTER OF POTATO BALLS. "LOOK LIKE GREEN TOMATOES." 

 Photograph by courtesy of Luther Burbank, Santa Rosa, California. 



ist of the college. This expert in gar- 

 den products made one day an aston- 

 ishing statement that I thought was in- 

 tended to be oratorical rather than lit- 

 erally financial. When discoursing in 

 regard to the fruiting berries of the 

 common potato, he exclaimed, "All 

 these berries have disappeared from 

 the state. I will give twenty-five dol- 

 lars for one found within Connecticut." 

 No more of that lesson that day for 

 me. I did not expect to receive twenty- 



I slipped out of the classroom and 

 hastened to the nearest potato patch. 

 Over an acre of ground, up and down 

 between the rows I traveled, but if the 

 prize had been one hundred dollars I 

 should have received it not. No pota- 

 to l^alls were there. Still, I was deter- 

 mined to show Professor Gully that 

 he was wrong. When I returned 

 home I hunted in my garden and in 

 the gardens of other people. I haunt- 

 ed potato fields and searched acres. I 



