DIVISION OF HORTICULTLIiE 



831 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



RHUBARB. 



A new bed of rhubarb was started in 1914. The earliness was noted and tests 

 made of the quality, with the following results: — 



Variety. 



Ready 



for Use. 



Cooking Qualities. 



Flavour. 



Texture. 



Linnaeus 



Prima Donna 



Victoria 



Cyclops 



Paragon 



Early Raspberry. 



Hobday Giant 



Monarque 



Daw Champion. . 



April 30. 

 May 4. 

 7. 



12. 



17. 



25. 



25.. 



25.. 

 June 20. . 



Good 



Medium 



Very good . . . 

 Fairly good.. 

 Rather poor. 



Good 



Fair 



Fairly good. 



Tender. 



Coarse. 



Tender, rich colour. 



Rather coarse. 



Coarse. 



Fairly tender. 



Tender. 



Rather coarse. 



SALSIFY. 



Two 66-foot rows of salsify were grown, but the crop was not very good. The 

 roots were very prongy and small. 



SPINACH. 



A good medium yield of Bloomsdale was realized. 

 20 to July 7. 



It was fit for use from June 



TOMATOES. 



The tests with tomatoes were very unsatisfactory, as the frost caught them just 

 when the medium-early varieties were beginning to ripen. The earliest ripe was the 

 Alacrity 1413, which had ripe fruit on August 16. Alacrity 12B was first ripe on 

 August 21. The season was much later than 1914, when the majority of the varieties 

 ripened fruit on July 25 to July 30. The heaviest yields of green fruit were from 

 Extra Early Wealthy, Earliest of All, XXX Early, and Chalk Early Jewel. 



Cultural Test. — A test was undertaken in regard to methods of pruning tomatoes, 

 but ov.ing to the late development of the fruit on account of the cold season, and 

 its injury by late frosts, no results of value were obtained. 



Bipening test of Tomatoes. — Twenty sound specimens of each of two varieties 

 were ripened under different conditions. Group I was placed in direct sunlight in a 

 window facing south. Group II was placed on a floor in a dim corner of the room 

 where no direct daylight could reach the fruit. Group III was placed in air-tight 

 paper bags in a dark cupboard in the same room. Group IV was placed in a box on 

 the basement floor, where no light reached the fruit and where the atmosphere was 

 somewhat damper than in the room containing the other groups. 



Brandon. 



