Chap. XI. GEAFT-HYBRIDS. 421 



He thus raised many new varieties, some like the graft or like the 

 stock; others having an intermediate character. Several persons 

 witnessed the digging up of the tubers from these graft-hybrids ; 

 and one of them, Mr. Jameson, a large dealer in potatoes, writes 

 thus, " They were such a mixed lot, as I have never before or since 

 " seen. They were of all colours and shapes, some very ugly and 

 " some very handsome." Another witness says " some were round, 

 " some kidney, pink-eyed kidney, piebald, and mottled red and 

 " purple, of all shapes and sizes." Some of these varieties have 

 been found valuable, and have been extensively propagated, 

 Mr. Jameson took away a large piebald potato which he cut into 

 five sets and propagated ; these yielded round, white, red, and pie- 

 bald potatoes. 



Mr. Fitzpatrick followed a different plan; 110 be grafted together 

 not the tubers but the young stems of varieties producing black, 

 white, and red potatoes. The tubers borne by three of these twin 

 or united plants were coloured in an extraordinary manner; one 

 was almost exactly half black and half white, so that some persons 

 on seeing it thought that two potatoes had been divided and re- 

 joined; other tubers were half red and half white, or curiously 

 mottled with red and white, or with red and black, according 

 to the colours of the graft and stock. 



The testimony of Mr. Fenn is of much value, as he is "a well 

 known potato- grower" who has raised many new varieties by crossing 

 different kinds in the ordinary manner. He considers it " demon- 

 strated" that new, intermediate varieties can -be produced by 

 grafting the tubers, though he doubts whether such will prove 

 valuable. 111 He made many trials and laid the results, exhibiting 

 specimens, before the Horticultural Society. Not only were the 

 tubers affected, some being smooth and white at one end, and 

 rough and red at the other, but the stems and leaves were modified 

 in their manner of growth, colour and precocity. Some of these 

 graft-hybrids after being propagated for three years still showed in 

 their haulms their new character, different from that of the kind 

 "from which the eyes had been taken. Mr. Fenn gave twelve of the 

 tubers of the third generation to Mr. Alex. Dean, who grew them, 

 and was thus converted into a believer in graft-hybridisation, 

 having previously been a complete sceptic. For comparison he 

 planted the pure parent-forms alongside the twelve tubers; and 

 found that many of the plants from the latter 112 were intermediate 

 between the two parent-forms in precocity, in the tallness, up- 

 rightness, jointing, and robustness of the stems, and in the size and 

 colour of the leaves. 



Another experimentalist, Mr. Eintoul, grafted no less than fifty-nine 

 tubers, which differed in shape (some being kidneys) in smoothness 



110 ' Gard. Chron.,' 1869, p. 335. hesion of the united wedges. Sec 



111 ' Gard. Chron.,' 1869, p. 1018, with also ibid., 1870, pp. 1277, 1283. 

 remarks by Dr. Masters on the ad- U2 ' Gard. Chrjn.,' 1871, p. 837. 



