LETTER OF DR. ROBERT P. HARRIS. 213 



Goodrich, of Ulica, N.Y., should be made, and new seedlings be 

 produced from developed wild tubers, not of South American 

 stock, — under which he had eleven out of twelve varieties fail, in 

 consequence of the long season required for the growth of hot- 

 climate tubers, — but from North American wild stock, such as 

 maj' be dug up in Washington Territory, California, Arizona, 

 Texas, and Mexico. 



From one Chilian potato Mr. Goodrich produced the Rough 

 Purple Chili, the seed of which again produced the Garnet Chili, 

 which was the father of Bresee's Early Rose, the most noted 

 American White Potato that has yet been produced by seed-cul- 

 ture. Through this Early Rose has been produced a new dynasty 

 of hardy tubers, originating in its Chilian grandfather, and our 

 tables are now chiefly supplied by one or other of the descendants of 

 this potato-line. But this stock, after more than thirty years, has 

 begun, like that of the jMercer, to die out. Can any one now pro- 

 duce a true Garnet Chili? The value of the Early Rose, and its 

 adaptation to certain soils, still preserves it in some sections, as 

 in the State of Maine, where it appears to grow in its original 

 quality. But here, no doubt, we have history only repeating itself, 

 for those who are old enough will remember the Maine Mercers, 

 as they were sold in New York and Philadelphia long after their 

 failure in the Middle States. 



The potato-rot of 1844 and 1845 started Mr. Goodrich in his 

 humanitarian scheme of obtaining hardiness by cultivating and dis- 

 seminating seedlings from wild potato stock, and such was his zeal 

 and activity during sixteen years prior to his death in 1864, — 

 although much of the time in poor health from lung trouble, — that 

 he produced from thirteen thousand to fifteen thousand tuber-seed- 

 lings. He unfortunately died before the Garnet Chili family could 

 be seen in its full development, and, sad to say, in poverty ; but 

 his country honors his name today for the great good he accom- 

 plished in his last years, and he is regarded in Europe as having 

 commenced a new era in potato culture. AYhen we consider that 

 the loss by the potato-rot in the British Isles alone was estimated 

 at $50,000,000 for its maximum year, and that the disease pro- 

 duced a famine in Ireland, we can learn to value the expedients 

 which restored a healthy condition of crops, and were thereby the 

 means of saving life. 



To prepare for the future results of deterioration, the work of 



