HORTICULTURE. 



555 



The authors give the following summary of results: 



"(1) A crop of tomatoes, started in September and beginning to bear in Decem- 

 ber, was only seven-tenths as large as one started 3 months later, when the amount 

 of sunlight was daily increasing. 



" (2) The largest quantities of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash taken by any 

 one crop (plat 30, February to July, 1896), per 100 sq. ft. of bench space, were as 

 follows: 



"The crop <>n this plat amounted to 1.6 lbs. of tomatoes per square foot of 

 bench space, but other crops of 1.8 lbs. took no larger quantities of fertilizer 

 ingredients from the soil. 



"(3) Somewhat less than two-thirds of these fertilizer ingredients were contained 

 in the fruit. 



"(4) To enable the plants to ,yet these fertilizer elements as required there should 

 be a large excess of them in the soil. 



" (5) "With the larger amounts of fertilizer chemicals used on the plats this year 

 larger quantities of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash have gone into the fruit. 

 Every 100 lbs. of ripe tomatoes has taken: 



" (6) By the use of fert ilizer chemicals and a soil consisting of anthracite coal ashes 

 mixed with a little peat (3 per cent) there has been no difficulty in raising a larger 

 crop of tomatoes than was raised in a rich compost either with or without fertilizer 

 chemicals. 



"The quantities of fertilizer chemicals which gave the maximum yield in our 

 experiments were, per 100 sq. ft. of bench: 



"In our tests the average yield from coal ashes and peat was one-tenth larger 

 than from the compost. 



"(7) The plants began to bear at about the same time on both soils. 



"During the first 2 weeks the yield of fruit from compost was the larger, for the 

 next 3 weeks the ashes and peat produced the most, and thereafter the yield per 

 week from compost was generally larger than from ashes and peat, although the 

 total yield for the season was largest on the latter. 



"Two-fifths of the whole crop from the coal ashes and peat was harvested within 

 1 week. Naturally this comparison is only applicable to the particular soils under 

 experiment. That composts may differ very greatly in their adaptability to the 

 growth of particular crops is matter of common observation. 



" (8) Roots growing in coal ashes and peat have not been affected by nematode 

 galls." 



