390 BULLETIN No. 127. [August, 



Skin color seems to be purely a matter of preference without a 

 real reason, there having been no correlations shown between par- 

 ticular colors and other desirable qualities. White to light brown 

 are the colors most sought in the northern markets while red 

 skinned varieties find ready sale in the south. Krzymowski (63) 

 states that rough skinned varieties are highest in starch content; 

 and it is generally believed that this is also correlated with re- 

 sistance to scab. 



MODERN POTATO BREEDERS 



Growing potato seedlings has been a fascinating work for 

 thousands of gardeners throughout the United States, who have 

 taken up the work merely as a recreation and have planted seeds of 

 unknown parentage, rejecting year by year those which gave poor 

 yields or had characteristics which were thought undesirable for 

 market. The mere fact of numbers has brought from this desultory 

 work a large number of commercial varieties, a conspicuous ex- 

 ample being the Burbank potato. This variety was the progeny 

 of a natural seed ball found in a garden by Mr. Luther Burbank 

 when he was a boy. As we only hear in such cases from those 

 who are successful, there is no way of judging the percentage of 

 failures; but judging from those who have come to my personal 

 knowledge, and from talking with seed merchants, certainly not 

 over one or two percent of these growers ever produce a commer- 

 cial variety. Varieties which come into prominence today show 

 increasing evidence of the work of the breeder who studies his 

 ground carefully and works toward a definite end. It is probably 

 not too much to say that 90 percent of our present potato crop is 

 from varieties originated by scientific breeders, such as the late 

 E. S. Carman. The small amount of published matter concerning 

 the present day workers in potato breeding and their methods 

 makes correspondence necessary for organized work, and a list of 

 some of the prominent workers is given here. 



United States: O. H. Alexander, Charlotte, Vt. ; Marvin Bovee, North- 

 ville, Mich.; E. L. Coy, West Hebron, N. Y. ; W. E. Johnson, Bowdoinham, 

 Me.; J. R. Lawrence, E. Raynham, Mass.; Chas. Norcross, Litchfield, Me.; C. S. 

 Pringle, Charlotte, Vt. ; Hiriam Presley, Port Huron, Mich. ; E. <L. Roser, 

 Cleveland, O. 



Great Britain: James Clark, Christ Church, Hants; Robert Fenn, Holm- 

 wood, Sulhampstead, Reading; C. Fidler, Reading; A. Findlay, Markinch; T. A. 

 Scarlett, Edinburgh; A. W. Sutton & Son, Reading. 



France: Tibulle Collot, Maizieres; Forgeot & Cie., Paris; Leonard Lille, 

 Lyon; Hyacinthe Rigault, Groslay; Joseph Rigault, Groslay; Vilmorin-An- 

 drieux et Cie., Paris. 



Germany: Cimbal, Fromdorf bei Miinsterberg; Flieszbach, Curow, Pom- 

 mern; A. Kirsche, Pfiffelbach; von Lochow, Petkus; G. Rlodel, Tagewerben 

 bei Weiszenfels. 



