LUTHER BURBANK 



furnish another illustration of a principle that our 

 studies in plant development have made familiar. 



The case has interest, none the less, as present- 

 ing evidence from a new source of the application 

 of a principle of heredity that can never fail to 

 excite surprise however often we see it manifested. 



It follows that we should not necessarily expect 

 the Burbank potato to breed true from the seed, 

 even if by rare exception a seedball should be 

 formed on a vine of this variety. But in point of 

 fact it breeds absolutely true as to color and rea- 

 sonably true in form, but not one of the seedlings 

 ever compared in its combination of good qualities 

 with the original Burbank. But of course this is a 

 matter of no practical importance. Probably not 

 one potato grower in a thousand ever gives a 

 thought as to whether the potato produces seed. 

 In practice the potato is grown from the "eyes" of 

 the tuber, and the grower gets approximately the 

 sort of tuber that he plants. Beyond that the 

 matter does not concern him. 



SEARCHING FOR NEW VARIETIES 



But of course the plant developer must view 

 the matter in another light. 



He must consider the potato not as a finished 

 product but as an important vegetable that may be 

 susceptible of still further improvement. So for 

 him, doubtless, the chief interest of the story of 



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