OPEN LETTERS.
AERIAL TUBERS OF SOLANUM.
Editors Botanical Gazette: —W. R. Dodson, in the GAZETTE for January,
refers to aerial tubers of Solanum tuberosum. It is well known that our
varieties of potatoes in cultivation are obtained from selecting seedlings such
as suit the cultivator best. From a thousand or two he may get only one,
possibly two, three, or more, that he selects for further trial; the rest he
abandons. Some eighteen years ago I grew 800 seedling potatoes from berries
of several varieties. Among them were several which bore their tubers
entirely on the stems above ground, and some produced tubers above and
below also. One plant I remember in particular produced about 200
tubers, all at the surface of the ground and a little way above, none covered
with the soil. These tubers were mostly the size of the ends of the thumb
and fingers of a lady’s hand. Of course, the plant was allowed to perish, as
of no value. By selecting seedlings of this variable plant we can secure
within certain limits anything we dare look for or expect.—W. J. BEAL,
Michigan Agricultural College.