LUTHER BURBANK 



association with the tobacco had been thrust upon 

 them. 



Owing to the lack of vitality of the hybrids, 

 and the fact that they seemed unlikely to develop 

 additional characteristics of exceptional interest, 

 the plants were not especially sheltered, and they 

 perished from freezing during the ensuing winter. 

 Thus the experiment of hybridizing the petunia 

 and the tobacco came to an end; not, however, 

 without illustrating one or two suggestive points 

 of plant breeding to which further reference will 

 be made in due course. 



Some Mongrel Potatoes 



Inasmuch as my first experiments in plant 

 breeding had to do with the potato, it is not 

 strange that the tribe of plants to which this 

 vegetable belongs have always had for me a 

 rather exceptional interest. 



Early in the course of my California work I 

 secured specimens of a remote cousin of the culti- 

 vated potato which grows in our southwestern 

 States and which is known to the Indians as the 

 Squaw potato {Solarium Jamesii). 



It is a wild rambling potato, spreading in all 

 directions by tubers that seem to be connected by 

 long strings. Although used for food by the 

 Indians, this potato is hardly worth the notice of 

 the gardener, except for its hardiness. This 



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