THE POTATO AND THE POMATO 
importance of selection is shown, each suc- 
ceeding generation having an increase of the 
desired characteristic over the former. 
Nearly twelve millions of dollars are in- 
vested in the United States alone in the 
manufacture of starch. With twenty-five per 
cent of starch-content added to a given thou- 
sand pounds of potatoes, there being no 
attendant increase in the cost of manufacture, 
the economic importance of breeding for 
starch becomes apparent. In Europe the 
matter has received much attention, and efforts 
have been made to increase the amount of 
starch. Along with the increase in starch 
supply which Mr. Burbank makes available 
for the whole world simply by an intelligent 
following of the lines he has laid down, comes 
increase in productivity, for he is able to 
unite these two characteristics in the same 
plant. 
In the production of alcohol for manufactur- 
ing purposes the potato is coming more and 
more into favor. The starch is converted into 
maltose by the diastase of malt, the maltose 
being easily acted upon by ferment for the 
actual production of the alcohol. An increase 
95 
