134 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



7-8 EDWARD VII., A. 1908 



Where larger tomatoes are desired for main crop the Matchless, Trophy, and 

 Brinton's Best of the scarlet varieties, and Burpee's Climax, Autocrat, Acme, and 

 Democrat of the purplish pink are among the best. The Livingston's Globe, a new 

 variety is very promising. Of later kinds. Marvel and Stone are handsome scarlet 

 sorts. The kind of tomatoes produced will depend very much on the selection made 

 in previous years, hence poor strains of the above varieties might not be so good as 

 good strains of some other sorts. 



The greatest interest in tomatoes is centred in the early varieties and seedsm.en vie 

 with one another in claiming that theirs is the earliest tomato in existence. A large 

 proportion of the varieties tested at the Central Experimental Farm are these early 

 sorts as it is important for the growers to know which are the earliest and best, ag 

 tli^y are the ones which are m.ast profitable. When the Sparks' Earliana was intro- 

 dreed in 1900 it was tested at the experimental farm and reported as a promising new 

 variety that year. It is now the leading early sort. The Chalk's Early Jewel is almost 

 as early as the Sparks' Earliana, is of much better shape, and owing to its more vigor- 

 ous habit of growth it stands the heat better and is much more productive than the 

 Earliana. The Bruce's Dominion Day is a Canadian variety which compares very 

 favourably with the Earliana in earliness. The variety as it is now sold is smoother 

 than it used to be 



A new variety introduced in 1906 called the June Pinlc, is promising. While in 

 the following table it is shown to only yield as much as Chal1^'s Early Jewel up to 

 August 8, it had yielded a little more than that variety up to August 2. 



Steele's Earliest of All, which had ripened less fruit up to August 8 than some 

 other varieties not included in the table of earliest varieties for lOOG, ripened more 

 fruit up to July 25 than these varieties, which entitled it to a place among the earliest. 



Marked results have been obtained during the past three seasons from seed saved 

 from the earliest tomatoes ripened at the Central Experimental Farm. These strains 

 have proved earlier every season than plants from seed obtained elsewhere. In 1906. for 

 instance, five plants of the Chalk's Early Jewel (C.E.F. seed) ripened 11 lbs. of fruit 

 irj to August 8, and 5 lbs. up to August 2. The same number of plants from seed 

 from the introducers only gave 4 lbs. 8 ozs. of ripe fruit up to August 8, and 1 lb. 

 8 ozs. up to August 2. This means that when the price was still high on August 2, 

 our own strain produced at the rate of 2/722 lbs. 8 ozs. ripe fruit per acre and the 

 introducers strain only 816 lbs. 12 ozs. per acre. In the case of the Sparks' Earliana, 

 the C.E.F, strain gave 9 lbs. 8 ozs. ripe fruit up to August 10, and the introducer's 

 strain gave 9 lbs. 13 ozs., a little more, but up to July 25. when the price of tomatoes 

 w:'.s much higher, the C.E.F. strain had ripened 2 lbs. of fruit and the introducers 

 best strain only 1 lb. 13 ozs., and the introducers ordinary strain 1 lb. Even 3 ozs. 

 difference in the yield from five plants means a difference per acre of over 105 lbs., 

 while a difference of 1 lb. means over 544 lbs. per acre. 



Among the nev>'er main crop varieties the Livingston's Globe is the most promis- 

 irg. This variety as tested here in 1906 was medium to above medium in size, thick, 

 regular, smooth, firm, purplish pinlc, and one of the most attractive of that colour. 



The season of 1906, while favourable to the early ripening of tomatoes was so 

 dry that the crop was comparatively small. Throughout this district many tomatoes 

 wore affected with the rot disease. Very few tomatoes were injured by this disease at 

 tl-:e experimental farm as the plants were well sprayed with Bordeaux mixture. 



The seed was sown in the hotbed on April 2, the plants pricked out into straw- 

 berry boxes on April 26 and kept in a cold frame until June 4, when five plants of 

 each were planted in the field, four feet apart each way. The soil was a light sandy 

 loam. The soil was well cultivated until the plants covered the ground. The plants 

 wore not pruned or trained in any way in this test. 



