THE TOMATO 183 



excess of sugar and starch in the usual way, 

 must find some place to deposit it, and that as no 

 demand came from the roots, the only available 

 buds were made to do vicarious service. But the 

 explanation obviously lacks a good deal of com- 

 plete satisfactoriness. For the moment, we per- 

 haps must be content to recognize in this another 

 illustration of the fact of communication between 

 the different parts of a plant, and of the 

 harmony of purpose through which the plant 

 as a whole is made to respond to the conditions 

 of the environment in the way that best meets 

 its needs. 



But we are forced to recognize, through such 

 an illustration, a greater capacity for adapta- 

 tion, seemingly almost of a reasoned character, 

 than we are commonly wont to ascribe to the 

 plant. 



The case of the tomato plant growing on the 

 potato roots, which so perverted the character of 

 the tubers that it supplied, has practical interest 

 for the plant breeder, and in particular for the 

 orchardist, because it demonstrates the effect of 

 a cion on the stalk on which it is grafted. Of 

 course the ordinary fruit tree does not develop a 

 system of tubers, and so it does not call for such 

 a supply of starch, for example, as that which 

 the tomato vine was induced to produce for the 



