286 



Agricultukal Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



poinij of earliness. This illustra;t<?s the law that any fruit repro- 

 duces its parent rather than itself; that is, the character of the 

 plant as a whole is more important than the character of any indi- 

 vidual fniit upon it. We should, therefore, expect better rasults in 

 earliness by selecting fniits from an early plant rarther than by 

 selecting early fruits fi'om an ordinary plant. 



10. Products of mature and immature fruits. — In March, a 

 fully ripe fruit, and one which was full grown and was about to 

 begin to color, were selected from a house-grown plant of the 

 Brick tomato — a large regular, red variety. Plants were grown 

 from each lot of seeds. 



TABLE XVI — Products f Mature and Immature Fruits. 



The mature-fruit lot gave the better results, both in earliness 

 and yield. 



11. "Leggy" plants. — Plants which have grovm tall and 

 spindling are known among gardeners as "leggy" plants, in dis- 

 tinction to those vdiich are " stocky," or short and stout. Leggy 

 plants usually give very poor results in the field when set in the 

 ordinary manner; but some growers obtain good returns from 

 them by laying the stem upon the ground or in a little trench, 

 when setting, ahd covering it with earth, allowing only a few 

 inches of the tip to protrude. This treatment prevents the break- 

 ing of the plant by the wind, and roots will form along the buried 

 portion which may aid in the production of a crop of fruit. This 

 system was tried last year, but the layered leggy plants gave less 

 results than normal plants set in the ordinary fashion, but they 

 gave better results than leggy plants not layered. Our leggy 

 plants last year were very poor, however; they were so badly 



