1908.] 



IMPROVEMENT OF THE POTATO. 



407 



In the year 1898 the experiment was continued in order to see 

 if a transmission of the relationships under discussion was contin- 

 ued. For this reason both forms of tubers were selected from each 

 group of the crop of 1897, giving in 1898 the following results: 



An inspection of the table certainly appears to show an inherit- 

 ance of yield in tubers which had been selected the year before, the 

 most notable being the increase of yield in the Reichskanzler va- 

 riety where the long tubers from the long tubers of 1897 show such 

 a remarkable gain over the long tubers from the round tubers of 

 1897, even though the seed weight of the latter is the greater. There 

 are no final results on the starch content given. In his collected 

 works (32) he states that a rise in starch content does follow se- 

 lection of starch when determined by exact chemical methods. The 

 author there concludes that the yield may be reduced by the con- 

 tinued selection of flat-round tubers which are rich in starch, and 

 increased by selection of cylindrical-long tubers, which would be 

 poor in starch. 



Paulsen (79) makes a caustic criticism of Fischer's conclusions 

 which may be summed up as follows : The form whether round or 

 long is characteristic of the variety. According to Fischer's theory, 

 a seedling plant showing round tubers should be rejected immedi- 

 ately because they are less capable of improvement. Nevertheless, 

 we have many round varieties which continue to give exceedingly 

 high yields. 



In 1899 (40) and 1900 (41), Fruwirth reports that selection of 

 timbers from high-yielding plants, as well as the choice of large 

 tubers, affects the yield, and recommends the selection as a practical 

 thing especially to keep up the vigor of the variety. In 1903 (42) 

 the same author reports that a change in the general characteristics 

 of the plants of a variety follows only gradually when the variety 

 is brought from an acclimated place to one with a different soil and 



