THE TOMATO— AND AN rNTER 

 ESTING EXPERIMENT 



A Plant Which Bore Potatoes Below 

 and Tomatoes Above 



A VISITING scientist who had seen my little 

 preserving tomato and had learned its 

 origin was curious to know just how I 

 came to make the hybridizing experiment that 

 resulted in its production. 



I found it difficult to answer the inquiry to his 

 entire satisfaction. One does not recall all the 

 details as to methods, let alone motives, after an 

 interval of twenty-five years. But so far as can 

 be recalled, I had no very definite object in 

 combining the common tree tomato (tomato de 

 laye) and the currant tomato except the one of 

 general interest in the processes of nature, and 

 a sort of all-inclusive desire to see what would 

 happen when plants of such very diverse char- 

 acter were united. 



My visitor felt that I must have had some 

 definite idea in mind — some ideal tomato at the 



157 



