LUTHER BURBANK 



that are the original basis for the building of 

 living matter. The starch of the potato is not 

 manufactured in the ground, but in the leaf of 

 the potato vine, whence it is transmitted in the 

 form of a soluble sugar to the root, and there 

 transformed into starch and deposit in the tuber. 



This must be understood if one would appre- 

 ciate the unwonted task to which the tomato tops 

 were called when they found themselves joined to 

 the stem of a potato plant. 



When the combination was made the other way, 

 the tomato roots proved unable to develop the 

 capacity to form tubers, but the potato tops re- 

 tained their tendency to develop material for the 

 manufacture of tubers. 



So a compromise was effected by growing the 

 potato not underground on the roots of the to- 

 mato, but in the air, from the axils of the leaves 

 of the potato plant. 



A potato vine grafted on tomato roots and 

 decorated with aerial potatoes is surely an anom- 

 aly that would excite interest in any garden. Mr. 

 Burbank has shown us how to produce this 

 anomaly, and there is no reason why the experi- 

 ment should not be repeated. It is true that no 

 permanent vegetable of value has been developed 

 in this way, but the experiment has interest that 

 fully justifies it, quite aside from any question of 

 practicality. 



It is possible, moreover, that plants thus grafted 

 might be more susceptible of hybridization, and 

 that a new and important vegetable might be pro- 



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