150 
no characters that would have distinguished them from the 
small tubers of many varieties of the common potato. 
Prof. Beal states that at the College this species yielded 
seed balls. It did not do so at the Station, a result which 
may have been due to injury from the beetle. 
A third came indirectly from Mr. Alfred Rose. If this ig: 
a wild potato at all, it is probably identical with the above. 
Neither the foliage nor the tubers distinguished it from the 
common potato, and the yield, though small, was not less 
than that of some varieties of the latter. 
A second wild potato from Prof. Beal, and one from Mr. 
T. H. Betts, of Cropseyville, N. Y., proved to be the Sola- 
num Jamesii, the same as the one grown at the Station 
since 1883. 
Tubers of this species grown in 1884 were found to be 
sound last spring (1886), and were planted as an experi- 
ment. They vegetated shortly earlier than others of the 
same species grown in 1885, and planted at the same time. 
ATTEMPTS AT CROSS FERTILIZATION. 
Many attempts were made to secure a cross between the 
Solanum maglia and the common potato, the pollen being 
repeatedly applied in both directions, but without success. 
Flowers of the White Star, fertilized with pollen from S, 
magiia produced rudimentary fruits, but these invariably 
dropped off when they had grown to the size of a pea. It 
is hoped that our efforts may succeed the coming season. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH TUBERS FROM PRODUCTIVE AND UNPRO= 
DUCTIVE HILLS. 
An extensive plat test with tubers selected in the fall of 
1885 from the most productive and least productive hills 
was planned. The plats were planted at the proper time in 
accordance with the plan, but a severe drought followed, 
and on many of the plats the plants were so stunted that 
they never recovered. The crop was so nearly a failure as 
to be valueless for the purpose intended. Unfortunately 
also, the potato rot was so severe in the fall of 1885 as to 
break up, for the most part, the series of selections that had 
been followed through 1884 and 1885. In very many cases 
the largest hills in the rows were totally destroyed, and 
hence the selecting could not be continued. But little can 
be reported, therefore, upon this promising line of experi- 
ment. The largest and smallest hills were saved from only 
two of the ten varieties grown from productive and unpro- 
ductive hills in 1885, viz., the Adirondack and Rural Blush. 
The largest and smallest tuber that survived the rot from 
