INHERITANCE IN POTATOES 



PROFESSOR EDWARD M. EAST 

 Harvard University. 



A study of the behavior of certain plant characters 

 in inheritance formed part of an investigation into the 

 factors connected with the improvement of the common 

 potato as a commercial crop, begun at the Connecticut 

 Agricultural Experiment Station in 1906. This work 

 was really a continuation of investigations made by the 

 writer at the University of Illinois from 1902 to 1905, 

 along broader and somewhat different lines. In 1908 1 

 the many disheartening difficulties attending hybridiza- 

 tion were discussed, but it was shown to be possible to 

 overcome several of the obstacles by proper treatment. 

 The conclusions drawn at that time have not been 

 changed by further experience, but the hindrances caused 

 by external conditions not under control have been so 

 great that the work has been discontinued. For exam- 

 ple, in 1908 a prolonged drought at the time the fruits 

 were forming, caused one hundred and fifty cross- and 

 self-pollinated seed-berries to drop off while yet too im- 

 mature for the seed to germinate. Not a single hand- 

 pollinated flower matured its fruit. 



Recently, a part of the pedigree records were lost in a 

 fire which destroyed one of the buildings of the Connecti- 

 cut Agricultural Experiment Station. For these reasons 

 the data reported here do not represent fairly the 

 amount of work done upon the subject, for the actual 

 number of plants under observation was considerably 

 larger than the figures reported. The complete figures 



