164 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



Kov. as 1-4 



THE GILLIFLOWER POTATOES. 



Aa chroniclers of whatever may bo deemed use- 

 ful or curious in the developements of the vegeta- 

 ble kiiin-doni, wo were disposed two or tlirce weeks 

 afo to mention what cauie to us supported by cred- 

 ible witnesses as a fact in relation to the production 

 of a potatoc from a lateral bulb or seed from the 

 stem of the L'illitlowor. When facts come to us, 

 sustained by credible witnesses, wlinse testimony 

 stands the test of a faithful cross examination, we 

 think it oiir duty to seek for an explanation rather 

 than arbitarily to deny thu fact. As th.: best ex- 

 planation it was in our power to afford, we que- 

 ried whether it mi^hl not be that the potatoe is not 

 an uri^inal tuber, but the chance production of 

 some freak of nature— sucli freaks, we know, na- 

 ture does play sometime, which have given birth to 

 new productions. The fact that the potatoe is ca- 

 pable of producin;v its kind in Uio ways— by seed 

 from the balls, and by sprouts from its own fruit, — 

 favors the conjecture that behind these two causes 

 of reproduction, may, originally have resided o?!e, 

 of which the agricultural community may not have 

 been aware. At least wo thought the matter wor- 

 thy of inquiry, and hence after stating the facts as 

 they had come to us, we requested Rev. H. Col- 

 man, Gov. Hill, Dr. Holmes and Mr. Cole to allow 

 the public the benefit of tlieir knowledge of natur- 

 al science, so far, if they could, as to explain the 

 mystery. 



As a farther act of editorial and personal respect 

 and courtesy, last week we forwarded to Mr. Col- 

 man, editor of the N. E. Farmer, one of the potatoes 

 with a communication describing the process of its 

 production, and respectfully asked his attention. 

 Such attentions amongst fellow editors we think 

 friendly, and should be received at least in the 

 same spirit of courteous good will. 



We find in the lasfN. E. Farmer, onr communi- 

 cation published at length, without its having pas- 

 sed, probably, into the hands of the Editor from 

 whom a notice was solicited. Instead of this, Mr. 

 Breck, publisher of the Farmer, of whom we made 

 no request, has seen tit to publish the letter, with- 

 out the knowledge <if the Editor we suppose, 

 and our respectful intentions he treats almost as 

 an insult. "We are astmiislied," says he, " that 

 any person of common sense should for a moment 

 believe that a result of this kind could be produced. 

 Mr. Smiley was undoubtedly mistaken." That 

 settles the matter. The dictum of Mr. Breck is 

 enough — at least in his estimation. He has a 

 most convenient way of disposing of a subject, and 

 is unusiiMij courteous to the well designed at- 

 tentions of a neighboring editor. "Mr. Smiley 

 was undoubtedly mistaken." It may be hard to 

 make Mr. S. believe this, after all the tests of his 

 knowledge which he has — but Mr. B. says he was, 

 and so it must be. " Aa well might we expect 

 that an oak would produce pumpkins, or an ap- 

 pie tree a squash, as that a gilliflower should pro- 

 duce a potatoe." Nevertheless there are many 

 things which Mr. lireck might not expert, that are 

 very true after all. Would he expect there are 

 such creatures in his field as sheep, as long as he can- 

 not account for their original ? \\ ould lie expect 

 oats as the fruit of barley sown? Would he ex- 

 pect a white Albino from black African parents? 

 Let him be ^'astonished that any person of common 

 sense should for u moment lielieve" in sur/i pro- 

 ductions, so long as he ciinnol explain the causes 

 of them. 



We are yet in hopes that Mr. Coi.man, the Ed- 



itor of the N. E. Farmer, will favor us with his at- 

 tention, in which case we know he is too much of a 

 gentleman not to treat our request with abetter ex- 

 planation than a griitF denial of the fact. — Maine 

 Cultivator. 



[Rf.marks by th.v Conductor. — We wish to 

 correct one error under which Mr Drew appears to 

 labor in relation to the editor of the N. E. Farmer. 

 MrColman has furnished a large amount of highly 

 important and useful matter for the paper, as all 

 onr readers know ; but he has never announced 

 hiinselfas editor, nor taken upon himself that re- 

 sponsibility. Being in the employ of the State, 

 and most of the time absent in the agricultural sur- 

 vey, it would hardly bo possible for him to attend 

 to the duties of conducting a paper. For this pre- 

 sent season we did not see hiui for three or four 

 months, and since his return f-oin the west, he has 

 been travelling the greater part of the time, en- 

 gaged HI his official labors. 



Communications are fri'quently addressed to Mr 

 Colman, as editor of the N. E. Farmer, which Mr 

 Breck does not think improper to open and answer 

 if necessary, without considering that he is com- 

 mitting an improper act, any more than Mr Drew 

 does when he receives a communication for the 

 Cultivator. If Mr Drew or any other person calls 

 upon the editor of the N. E. Farmer to answer any 

 inquiry, it is in Mr Breck's place to attend to it ; 

 but should Mr Colman be present, in deference to 

 his superior knowledge, it is very likely it would 

 be handed over to him for his opinion, if it was a 

 matter ot any consequence. We hope we are un- 

 derstood under this head. 



We are sorry to be thought uncivil or Ir.cking 

 in courtesy towards our publishing or editorial 

 brethren ; but when such foolery and nonsense as 

 gilHHower potatoes, are brought before the public 

 by the editor of an agricultural paper, and a call is 

 made for an explanation of an impossibility, as ev- 

 ery one at all acquainted with vegetable physiology 

 will see at once, or any one else we should think 

 who had common sense, we acknowledge that we 

 were a little surprised, and expres*^ed ourselves as 

 we did, not meaning any offence. The case of a 

 white Albino from a black African parent, is not a 

 parallel case, by any means : all the human family 

 are one species, although they are divided into dif- 

 ferent races, have different complexions, &,c. As 

 it is in the vegetable kingdom, so it is in the ani- 

 mal ; among the different species there are mon- 

 strosities and sports innumerable, yet the specific 

 character of the animal or plant is not materially 

 affected. There is no instance on record of any 

 new species having been brought into existence 

 since the creation: it is an absurdity. 



As to sheep and every other race of animals or 

 plants, we have always supposed they were includ- 

 ed in the creation at the beginning, and that neither 

 a sheep or a potato comes by chance. 



Will the editor of the Cultivator inform us who 

 has ever "sowed barley and reaped oats " : this ^.is 

 another new idea. There must be something pe- 

 culiar in the state of things in Maine, if such re- 

 sults are produced. " Do men gather grapes of 

 thorns or figs of thistles ?" Such things were not 

 expected in our Saviour's time, and have the laws 

 of nature changed ? " And the earth brought forth 

 grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and 

 the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself af- 

 ter his kind, and God saw that it was good." From 

 this we may infer that every plant reproduces it- 



self, if we understand the passage right, and in no 

 other way is it intimated that they can be produced. 



As to the origin of the potato, our friend seems 

 to be in the dark, and as the " dictum " of Mr Breck 

 may not be considered conclusive by the editor of 

 the Cultivator, we would refer hira to Loudon's 

 Encyclopedia of Gardening, page 623, whore he 

 will learn that the potato grows in the wild state in 

 the mountainous parts of S. America. The London 

 Horticultural Society, in their reports, vol. .5, page 

 'i'i7, observe that "some tubers of the wild potato 

 have been received by the Horticultural Society 

 and grown by them : they ditTer so little from those 

 of the cultivated potato, that Sabine conjectures 

 that the original cultivators of this vegetable did 

 not exercise either much art or patience in the pro- 

 duction of their garden potatoes." Our friend Mr 

 Haggerston, a wentleman as well acquainted with 

 the vegetable kingdom and as able a cultivator as 

 any other person in the country, informed us that 

 in England he hail seen potatoes grown from tu- 

 bers recently introduced from their native plain or 

 mountain; that they were the size of a man's 

 thumb and very full of eyes. The idea that the 

 potato may be "the chance production of some | 

 freak of nature," is truly ridiculous, and never 

 would have been noticed, were it not th.it we felt 

 it a duty we owe to the community at large, to ex- 

 press our disapprobation of such humbuggery, too 

 much of which already exists in the minds of the 

 credulous and ignorant. Who has not heard of 

 yellow roses made by budding white ones on the 

 barberry bush, and black ones by budding upon the 

 black currant, and striped tulips manufactured to ' 

 order by drawing different colored silk through the 

 bulb, and a hundred other wonders performed in 

 the same unnatural way ? Such ideas are common, 

 and we are often gravely asked if such things arc 

 not so ! 



As to the inquiry, "Can you explain any natural 

 relation between the gilliflower and potato," we 

 would remark, that neither in the natural or artifi- 

 cial classification of plants, is there the most dis- 

 tant connexion, nor is there a possibility that a 

 hybrid could be produced between the two plants so 

 different in their structure, habits and properties as 

 the gilliflower and potato, and much more that a 

 potato could in any way be produced from the dis- 

 eased stem of a gilliflower. — J. B.] 



Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



EXHIBITION OF VI GKTABLES. 



Saturday, JVov. 14, 1840. 



S. Pond, Cliairman of the Committee on Vegetables : 



Sir — I have exhibited at the Horticultural rooms , 

 today, thirtyone varieties of turnips. They are the 

 product of seed imported by me last season from 

 Scotland. I had fifty varieties. I gave a portion 

 of the seeds of each variety to Daniel Chandler, 

 pjsq., of the House of Industry; Dr. Holmes, of, 

 the Maine Farmer ; Mr Drew, of the Maine CultU ' 

 vator ; S. W. Cole, of the Yankee Farmer, and 

 David Ilaggerston, Esq., of Watertown. The tur- 

 nips exhibited were cultivated by Mr Haggerston, 

 to whom I am greatly indebted for the care he has 

 bestowed upon them. Some of the varieties are 

 not matured, as they were planted late. I have 

 not yet heard from the other gentlemen who had 

 the seeds. Many of these varieties will be found 

 superior to any that we have in the country. 

 Very respectfully, 

 Boston, JVov. 14, 1840. C. P. BOSSON. 



The following are the varieties of turnips sent 



