THE POTATO ITSELF 295 



having eyes so deep that the long slender tubers 

 seemed to be all eyebrows, the eyes reaching 

 quite to the center of the potato. Yet another 

 was round and white, but too small to be of any 

 value. 



As between the products of the two excep- 

 tional vines, there was not a very marked differ- 

 ence. The tubers from one averaged slightly 

 larger than the other, slightly more uniform in 

 size, just a little smoother and more attractive 

 in appearance — in a word, just a shade better. 



These best tubers from one of the plants were, 

 of course, carefully preserved, and a consider- 

 able crop was grown from them next year by di- 

 viding the tubers and planting them in the usual 

 way. And their progeny have multiplied year 

 by year, until they are now gathered by millions 

 of bushels each season in all parts of the world 

 where potatoes are grown. At this date, 1921, 

 there have been grown since its introduction in 

 1875, over 600,000,000 bushels of the "Burbank" 

 potato, enough to load a solid freight train 

 14,000 miles long, which would reach more than 

 halfway round the world. 



Introduction of the Burbank 



The twenty-three seedlings were grown, as 

 just noted, in the season of 1872. 



