266 



RErORT OF THE HORTICULTURIST OF THE 



Table XII. — Single-stem Plants — Time of Ripening First Fruits, 

 Average Numrer of Fruits per Plant, Weight per Fruit and 

 Yield per Square Foot of Bench. 



These two lots of plants are certainly comparable as great care 

 was used to select uniform plants and to give them similar con- 

 ditions from the time the seed was planted till the last fruit was 

 picked, excepting only that one lot was in pots and the other was 

 not in pots. In this case the results are slightly different from 

 those of the first and second tests as set forth in Tables IX and 

 X. The plants in pots again ripened the first fruits later, and the 

 yield was slightly less than that of the plants not in pots, but 

 the average weight per fruit was slightly greater. In no case is 

 the difference marked with single-stem plants and the testimony 

 favors the conclusion that little or no advantage is gained by 

 growing them in pots in the way they were grown for these tests. 



The influence of benching in pots when plants are trained to 

 three stems will now be considered. 



Experiments of 1895-6. 

 First Test Using Three-stem Plants. 



The plants designed for three-stem training which were put on 

 the benches September 26, 1895, were arranged as shown in the 

 diagram, Plate VI. This arrangement proved to be faulty, inas- 

 much as the lots of plants to be compared were separated into 

 groups, and these groups, being located in different parts of the 

 house, did not have equal exposure to sunlight, as has already 

 been ex])]ained on page 251. For this reason the results of the 

 first test are not considered wholly satisfactoiy. 



The three-stem plants were separated into two lots. The 

 plants of one lot were grown in small pots plunged in the soil of 



