236 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE BULLETINS. 



It appears probable that rotation in cropping ■will prevent the disease to 

 some extent, although Professor Arthur,* from an experiment conducted for 

 the purpose, is inclined to think otherwise. 



Prodtictiveness. — An average plant of each variety was pulled up -when the first 

 picking w^as well matured and the plant and its fruit separately weighed. While 

 this method of determining productiveness does not give the absolute weight 

 of produce of each plant — many of the fruits being but partially grown — it nev- 

 ertheless gives an accurate relative knowledge of the productiveness of varieties. 

 The most prolific variety — the one which shows the greatest ratio of fruit to 

 weight of plant — is not always the most profitable, even when earliness and 

 quality are not to be considered; that is, the plant itself must not be too large, 

 else the cost of trainuig it will be too great. Other things being equal, the 

 lowest plant is usually the most profitable. I expect that the same variety will 

 vary much in productiveness in different years and under diiferent treatments. 

 In fact the same variety from different sources varied widely this year, as for 

 example, the Queen, Cardinal, and Golden Queen. The second and third 

 columns of the table give the weights. The best ratios occurred in Mikado, 

 Trophy, Canada Victor, Hundred Days, Precursor, Livingston's Beauty, and 

 •** Large Red Smooth Round." As an illustration of how much cultivation has 

 increased the productiveness of the tomato, compare the ratios of the cherry 

 and pear-shaped tomatoes and their immediate offspring with those of the best 

 market sorts. 



Varieties. — The earliest varieties were Advance, Precursor, Boston Market, 

 Tom Thumb, Conqueror, and The Cook's Favorite. These all began to ripen 

 about August 6th. The early season was so very dry that none of the varieties 

 produced fruit so early as they should have done. The seeds were all sown in a 

 forcing house March 18th, and transplanted, ten of a kind, to the oj^en ground 

 June 7th and 8th. It is probable, however, that small differences in earliness 

 are not to be relied upon in estimating varietal characters. Careful experi- 

 ments upon this point, running through three or four years, conducted at the 

 New York Experiment Station, show great variations in the comparative earli- 

 ness of varieties. We have made records of the first flowering and fruiting 

 for future comparison. Although the list of varieties as reduced contains some 

 forty sorts, all the desirable kinds for general cultivation are not more than 

 six. From our experience, I should select the following six : Boston Market, 

 Oonqueror, Red Valencia Cluster or Queen, Trophy, Livingston's Beauty, Par- 

 agon. If the rot should continue to attack the Livingston's Beauty and Para- 

 gon to the same extent as this year they will need to be discarded. The 

 Trophy is apt to grow too irregular. 



In order to determine if all seedsmen send out the same tomato under the 

 same name we grew Paragons from nineteen sources. Although all these 

 plants bore fruits which had most of the essential features of the Paragon, it 

 is nevertheless an easy task to select from the patch whole plants which might 

 be taken to represent several different varieties. This fact simply proves again 

 the unfixity of varieties and the necessity of exercising caution in sending out 

 new ones. 



I append a Synopsis of cultivated tomatoes. I acknowledge aid which I have 

 derived from the records of tests made at Chiswick, Eugland,f in 1867, and at 



* Gard. Chron., 1869, 903, 1098. 



+ Rep. N. Y. Exp. Sta., iv., 250. < 



