ON HEREDITY 



How Mr. Burbank lost the precious potato 

 seed ball, how he found it again, and then nearly 

 spoiled the outcome by not knowing how to plant 

 the seed and the practical lessons in method 

 which he learned these are things which will be 

 explained at length in the proper place. 



The interesting fact to be noted here, however, 

 is that, from this seed ball, he produced twenty- 

 three new potato plants. 



Each of these plants yielded its own interesting 

 individual variations its own interpretation of 

 long-forgotten heredity. 



One, a beautiful, long potato, decayed almost 

 as soon as dug; another was red-skinned with 

 white eyes; several had eyes so deep that they 

 were unfit for use; all varied widely. 



The twenty-three, in fact, represented as many 

 different stages in the history of the potato family; 

 and, having no present-day environment to hold 

 them in balance, all were unlike any potato which 

 had ever been cultivated. 



Among the number, though, was one tuber 

 better than the rest and better than any potato 

 which Luther Burbank had ever seen. That tuber 

 was the parent of the almost universally grown 

 Burbank potato of today. 



When Luther Burbank selected from his 

 twenty-three potato seedlings what eventually was 



[59] 



