THE TOMATO 181 



But the tomato roots of course sent up their 

 supply of water and salts in solution, and the 

 potato leaves set to work as usual developing 

 material for the manufacture of tubers. When, 

 however, the effort was made to send this ma- 

 terial for tuber formation back to the roots, there 

 was an embargo put on such transportation be- 

 cause the tomato roots have no knowledge of the 

 art of tuber making. 



In this dilemma the potato crop, under spell of 

 the compelling instinct of tuber formation, made 

 the only compromise possible by growing aerial 

 tubers at the joints where the leaves appear from 

 buds springing from the point of union with the 

 leaves of the stem. 



What would ordinarily have been leaf -bearing 

 branches were terminated with small potatoes, 

 which, because of exposure to the sunlight, 

 generally took on a greenish tint, those in full 

 sunlight sometimes being thoroughly green, 

 while those that were shaded by leaves were of a 

 lighter color. 



The potato vine growing on a tomato stem 

 and bedecked with aerial potatoes, like some 

 strange form of exotic fruit, was certainly one 

 of the most curious forms of plants ever seen. 

 It is perhaps needless to add that the potato vine 

 produced no fruit that gave any suggestion of 



