THE POTATO 
Material 
Two potatoes for each pupil. Pins; very sharp knives. Glasses of 
water for Section 13. Glass saucers or small glass dishes or watch crystals 
may be used instead, but are more expensive than glasses. Very small plain 
glasses used may be bought for three or four cents each. 
Laboratory Work 
1. Examine a potato carefully and notice its color and 
shape. The shape may be long flat, round flat, 
long round, according to the variety. Which is 
yours? 
2. Notice the peculiar spots all over the potato. The 
spots are called “eyes.” Why? Find the “eye- 
brow” and the “eye.”’ How many “eyes” are 
there on your potato? 
3. Look at the two ends of the potato and compare 
them. Is there any «difference? 
Do you see a small hollow on one end? In the cen- 
ter of the hollow is a small spot. Find this. The 
spot is the place where the stem was attached, 
and sometimes a small piece of stem still remains. 
This end is the stem end of the potato. The other 
end is the eye end. Why? 
4. Hold the potato so that an ‘‘eye” and ‘‘eyebrow”’ 
are in the same position as your own eye and 
53 
