REPORT OF MR. W. S. BLAIR 



337 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



TOMATOES. 



Experiments were conducted this season with 48 varieties of tomatoes. The seed 

 was sown in a hot-bed March 25, in rows 8 inches apart. The plants were thinned to 

 one inch apart in the rows when quite small, and on April 16 were set, one plant to a 

 strawberry box filled with soil. These boxes were put close together into another hot- 

 bed on about 1 inch of soil and remained there until put out in open ground on June 3. 



The tomato plant likes plenty of heat, and growth is vigorous if proper conditions 

 are given. The plants, however, should have sufficient ventilation to make them stocky 

 and thrifty, and after the middle of May the glass should be left off the hot-bed as 

 much as possible. When grown in strawberry boxes the earth soon dries out, making 

 frequent watering necessary. The plants were put in the open ground in rows, 4 feet 

 apart each way. The boxes in which the plants were grown were taken to the field and 

 cut so that the plants with the earth attached could be taken out and placed in position 

 without checking growth. 



The land on which these plants were put was previously in millet, and received no 

 barn-yard manure for the tomato crop. After the plants were out a week a handful of 

 nitrate of soda was scattered around each plant just before a rain. This proved very 

 beneficial and gave a vigorous early growth not obtained in any other way. 



The varieties of rough and irregular growth are not as suitable for market as the 

 smoother sorts, and some of the earliest ripening varieties are of this character. Some, 

 iowever, of the smooth sorts ripen the bulk of their crop about as early as many of the 

 wrinkled ones. Of the wrinkled sorts the earliest of all, Early Richmond and Early 

 Conqueror are recommended. The last named sort is developing into a much smoother 

 fruit than formerly, and splendid market specimens were obtained from some plants of 

 this variety. The varieties recommended for market and general use are Early Ruby, 

 Atlantic Prize, Fordkook's First, Dwarf Champion, and Xew Stone. 



The quantity of fruit obtained from four plants of each variety is given in the 

 following table. The balance of the fruit not ripened was picked September 10. 



16—25* 



