THE TOMATO- 



AND AN 



INTERESTING 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 combin- 

 ing the common tomato 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 diverse 

 character were united. 



My visitor felt that I must have had some defi- 

 nite idea in mind some ideal tomato at the pro- 

 duction of which I w r as aiming, and he seemed to 



[VOLUME VII CHAPTER IV] 



