68 THE POTATO 



and improved varieties which I have given to the 

 pubHc, and which are acknowledged to be at home 

 and abroad of so much benefit to the community. * 

 As already noted, the success of Paterson's Vic- 

 toria, and several other new varieties raised by 

 him in the way described above, was remarkable 

 and immediate. But the scientific methods of 

 booming new varieties of potatoes were not known 

 in his days, and Mr. Paterson himself was more 

 concerned about doing an incalculable and per- 

 manent service to his fellow-men than he was 

 about using even legitimate means of snatching a 

 chance of making a fortune for himself; and not- 

 withstanding all the tokens of public appreciation 

 bestowed on him by the Queen and his fellow- 

 agriculturists, he actually was a heavy loser 

 financially through his efforts to bring out a potato 

 which should realize his ideal. 



"It is claimed that Mr. Paterson, the raiser of the 

 Victoria, was the first to hybridize or cross-fertilize 

 different varieties of potatoes. It is impossible to 

 say whether that claim be well founded or not, 

 for some of the older writers refer in a vague way 

 to crossing different varieties of potatoes, and Mr. 

 Paterson, in his report to the Highland and Agri- 

 cultural Society, makes no specific mention of hy- 

 bridizing. But as the science of botany was well 

 understood in his day, and as he devoted so much 

 attention and skill to the propagation of different 

 varieties, it is quite likely that he followed the 

 principle of cross-fertilization. It may be well, 

 therefore, at this stage to give a brief account of the 

 system which is now so largely followed in the 

 cross-fertilization of potatoes. 



"It will be noted that Mr. Paterson in his report 

 to the Highland and Agricultural Society says 



