NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 



in the starch -content of the potato for this 

 manufacture is particularly desirable. 



But important as this breeding of potatoes 

 is from a manufacturing point of view, it is 

 still more important as a means of food sup- 

 ply. The great value of the potato as a food 

 lies in its being a concentrated food, supplying 

 both heat and energy, though needing the 

 foods rich in protein to make up a model bal- 

 anced ration. Mr. Burbank is now making over 

 the potato. He long ago saw its possibilities, 

 and only the tremendous demands of other ex- 

 periments upon him have prevented the com- 

 pletion of the work. He will leave the potato, 

 when he is done with it, a far more impor- 

 tant feature of the world's supply of food than 

 it has ever been before. Already enough has 

 been accomplished in the preliminary test, to 

 foreshadow the end. He has had four main 

 objects in view in the work: A potato with 

 a better flavor, one with a relatively larger 

 amount of sugar, one that will be of a larger 

 size and all of the same uniform shape and 

 size, and one that will better resist disease 

 and be a larger yielder than any potato now 

 known. 



96 



