INTERESTING FAILURES 167 



handsome and, unlike the blossoms of the ordi- 

 nary potato, they were quite fragrant. 



Moreover, the blossoms were produced in as- 

 tounding profusion. But the plants did not ordi- 

 narily produce seed. When I crossed the plant 

 with other tuberous Solanums, however, a num- 

 ber of seed balls were produced and by cross- 

 fertilization the plants had acquired a virility that 

 they otherwise lacked. 



These hybrid seeds produced many strange 

 forms of potato plants. Some had extremely 

 large blossoms in great quantities, others ex- 

 tremely small ones; the blossoms varied in all 

 shades from deep blue through sky blue to red 

 and white. Some of the blossoms might have 

 been thought not unworthy to be introduced as 

 garden ornaments. But they offered no advan- 

 tage over numerous flowers already in existence, 

 and as the tuber proved worthless, these experi- 

 ments also were discontinued. 



But by far the most interesting experiments 

 that I have made with the wild potatoes were 

 made by combining the form known as the Dar- 

 win potato (Solanum maglia), a yellow fleshed 

 tuber producing an abundance of very large seed 

 balls, with the common potato, and with various 

 other tuberous Solanums. Thus I produced a 

 plant which yielded balls of fruit at least three 



