4 BULLETIN 195 ; U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Rough Purple Chili because of its rough skin, purple color, and sup- 
posed place of origin, a variety which upon its introduction in 1867 
did more to awaken a keen and widespread interest in potato breeding 
in America than any other variety which has since been produced. 
This statement is well substantiated by a perusal of our agricultural 
literature and the seed catalogues issued between 1867 and 1884. 
The same publications also show that this period was marked by 
greater activity and more painstaking efforts in potato breeding 
than have characterized the more recent years. The interest was 
greater, more work was accomplished, and the parentage of the new 
introductions was much more carefully recorded than has been the 
case in subsequent years. Since 1884 comparatively few of the 
introductions have been obtained from hand cross-pollinated seed. 
In the main they have sprung from naturally fertilized seed or have 
come as sports or mutations from varieties already in cultivation. 
So far as the writer is aware, Goodrich did not attempt hand 
pollination of the potato blossoms, and in that respect he may be 
said to have failed in the performance of the highest type of plant 
breeding. His was a pioneer work which served to blaze the way for 
those who followed. Among the men who later took up the work 
may be mentioned C. G. Pringle, of Charlotte, Vt., and E. S. Brownell, 
of Essex Center, Vt. . 
The work of Pringle deserves rather more than passing mention, 
inasmuch as he brought to bear upon the problem all the skill that 
the then existing knowledge of plant breeding furnished. His was no 
haphazard work. He selected his varieties for crossing with a definite 
purpose in view. Each variety was supposed to possess one or more 
desirable qualities which it was proposed to combine by crossing 
with certain other desirable qualities of another variety. Not only 
were the varieties selected with a definite purpose in view, but equally 
as much attention was paid to the selection of particularly healthy 
and typical parent plants. So skillful did Pringle become in the 
breeding of potatoes that we find him contracting with a leading New 
York seedsman in the early seventies to produce hybridized potato 
seed at $1,000 per pound. A considerable quantity of such seed 
was produced and through the agency of the seedsman was widely 
disseminated. There is every reason to believe that this seed, falling 
into the hands of amateur plant breeders, resulted in the production 
of a large number of promising new varieties. Of the potatoes 
which Pringle originated and which were introduced by B. K. Bliss 
& Sons, the Snowflake was perhaps most widely known. This 
variety was noted for its high table quality, but on account of a 
rather weak constitution and medium productiveness it became 
popular only as a family table potato. 
