66 DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 



IV. Notes on Strawberries. 



V. Lists of Fruit and Ornamental Plants Growing at the College. 

 VI. Calendar of Trees and Shrubs. 



VII. Influence of Certain Chemicals upon Germination. 

 VIII. An Experiment in Apple Culture. 

 IX. Miscellaneous Notes: 



1. Bud Variations. 



2. Brief Potato Notes. 



3. Notes on Crossing and Hybridizing. 



4. Which Flower in the Cluster Makes the Apple? 



5. Why are Young Trees Barren? 



6. Germination of Seeds which have been kept on Ice. 



7. Growth of Plants from Soaked Seeds which have been 



Dried. 



8. What do we get in Lawn-grass Seed ? 



9. Trees as Shrubs. 



10. Effects of last Winter. 



11. " Water-proof Fibre " Cloth for Cold Frames. 



I. Notes on Tomatoes. — The experiment with tomatoes which was 

 inaugurated last year has been carried forward this year upon a much larger 

 scale. All the named varieties offered by American seedsmen were grown, 

 and also all those offered by three leading EurojDean seedsmen, F. & A. Dick- 

 son & Sons, Chester, England; Vilmorin, Andrieux et Cie, Paris, France; 

 Eobert Neuman, Erfurt, Prussia. About a dozen plants of each sort were 

 grown. The varieties were arranged consecutively after the classification 

 proposed in my tomato bulletin of last year,* each sort being designated by 

 a number. The plants covered an acre of ground, and comprised 170 num- 

 bers. There were not one hundred and seventy named varieties represented,^ 

 however, as many varieties were duplicated from different countries and 

 various seedsmen. One hundred and ten so-called varieties were grown, not 

 counting those French and German names which are simple equivalents to 

 English names. Seventy-five named sorts were grown last year. A com- 

 plete collection of egg-plants and strawberry tomatoes (Physalis) were also 

 grown. 



These numerous varieties of tomatoes are not grown for curiosity, nor for 

 the simple purpose of securing a collection of all the known sorts. It has 

 seemed to me worth while to inaugurate an extensive and careful experi- 

 ment upon this invaluable fruit, and for several reasons. The varieties of 

 tomatoes are now so numerous, their nomenclature so much confused, and 

 their individual merits so uniformly praised, that the cultivator is perplexed. 



There is reason to believe, also, that the limit of improvement of varieties 

 is not yet reached. In order to throw light upon these points, and to make 

 a proper beginning for the breeding of varieties, it is essential that all 

 known varieties should be grown before the eyes of the experimenter. There 

 is the same reason for this proceeding as there is for the mastering of the lit- 

 erature of any subject prior to the actual research upon that subject. There 

 is a too common tendency on the part of experimenters to begin investiga- 

 tions without proper preparation. Two years' experience with many varie- 

 ties of tomatoes has enabled us to understand somewhat of the laws and 



♦Notes on Tomatoes, BuUetin No. 19, issued September 30, 1886. 



