ON HEREDITY 
How Mr. Burbank lost the precious potato 
seed ball, how he found it again, and then nearly 
spoiled the outcome by not knowing how to plant 
the seed—and the practical lessons in method 
which he learned—these are things which will be 
explained at length in the proper place. 
The interesting fact to be noted here, however, 
is that, from this seed ball, he produced twenty- 
three new potato plants. 
Each of these plants yielded its own interesting 
individual variations—its own interpretation of 
long-forgotten heredity. 
One, a beautiful, long potato, decayed almost 
as soon as dug; another was red-skinned with 
white eyes; several had eyes so deep that they 
were unfit for use; all varied widely. 
The twenty-three, in fact, represented as many 
different stages in the history of the potato family; 
and, having no present-day environment to hold 
them in balance, all were unlike any potato which 
had ever been cultivated. 
Among the number, though, was one tuber 
better than the rest—and better than any potato 
which Luther Burbank had ever seen. That tuber 
was the parent of the almost universally grown 
Burbank potato of today. 
When Luther Burbank selected from _ his 
twenty-three potato seedlings what eventually was 
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