THE POTATO ITSELF 289 



Most of the potatoes known at that time 

 would hardly be tolerated anywhere now. Six 

 years before I had experimented in raising seed- 

 lings from the best then in cultivation, but seed- 

 lings were so almost exactly similar to the parent 

 potatoes that I had concluded that unless some 

 more variable stock could be found, the growing 

 of potato seedlings to secure better varieties was 

 not a promising employment, At that time 

 (1866) the most commonly grown were "Che- 

 nango," a very dark-skinned potato of good qual- 

 ity, but unsightly in size and appearance; "Lady 

 Finger," a good white baking potato, but not a 

 good yielder and also of unsightly appearance, 

 being very long and slender with many knobs; 

 "Prince Albert," a rather productive long white 

 potato of inferior quality and much subject to 

 decay and "Davis Seedling," a short, flat, red 

 potato of fair quality, but producing altogether 

 too many small potatoes. 



Of course, the average gardener accepts the 

 product of his plants somewhat as he finds them, 

 with no clear notion that they could ever be made 

 different from what they are. 



But I had been certain from the outset that 

 inasmuch as all existing plants had evolved from 

 inferior types, it should be possible to develop 

 any or all of them still further. So my general 



10— Vol. 5 Bur. 



