THE POTATO 239 



any trace of it. However, believing that it might 

 be somewhere in the vicinity, day after day the 

 place was visited, and the most diligent search 

 made, moving the vines about and leaving nothing 

 undone that might disclose it. At last it was 

 found a number of feet away from the original 

 vine, no doubt removed either by a bird or some 

 animal passing rapidly through the field. 



"From this single seed-ball twenty-six distinct 

 new varieties were obtained. The seed was 

 planted out of doors, as one would plant beets or 

 cabbages, and not grown in boxes under glass and 

 transplanted as seedlings of potato and tomato 

 plants usually are. The ground had been pre- 

 pared with as much care as could be bestowed upon 

 it, and each seed was placed about a foot from its 

 next neighbor in the rows. To-day I would not 

 think of planting valuable potato-seeds in this 

 way because the risks would be too great; but it 

 turned out, perhaps from the unusual care given 

 them, that they all grew well, and from that lot of 

 seedlings varieties were obtained entirely distinct 

 from any which had before been seen. There were 

 two sorts with long, white, beautiful tubers, the 

 most shapely, most uniform in size, of any that 

 had yet been developed. One of these was after- 

 ward named and introduced as the 'Burbank' by 

 that pioneer seedsman, Mr. J. H. Gregory of 

 Marblehead, Mass. The other white one was 

 almost as good, but by careful test proved to 

 be somewhat less prolific. This, and all the others 

 except the * Burbank, 'are now lost to cultivation, 

 and let us hope without loss to the cultivator. 



** Besides the two seedlings above mentioned, 

 one variety was bright red, not very productive, 

 and most of the tubers decayed shortly after they 



