HORTICULTURE. 947 



and a greater yield than those planted at other depths. The time of 

 maturity was not materially affected by the depth of planting. In the 

 fertilizer test with tomatoes, sulphate of potash, muriate of potash, bone 

 meal, and nitrate of soda were used singly and in various combinations. 

 The use of nitrate of soda alone gave the smallest yield and the fewest 

 fruits per plant. Bone meal gave the best results of any single ferti- 

 lizer and sulphate of potash the next best. Sulphate of potash proved 

 much superior to muriate of potash, both when used alone and when 

 used in combination with nitrate of soda. Of the various combinations 

 of fertilizers a mixture of equal parts of the 4 fertilizers used gave the 

 best results. 



Tomatoes pruned after the fruit set produced a greater number of ripe 

 fruits per plant up to September 1 than unpruned plants, but the total 

 yield per plant for the whole season was less. Of the various methods 

 of pruning tomatoes, the single stem method gave somewhat earlier 

 and larger fruits, but lessened the total yield considerably. Tomatoes 

 trained on racks gave a linger yield than on any other kind of trellis. 



Seed of Dwarf Champion tomatoes was sown ;it intervals of 10 days 

 from February 10 to April 10. The largest crop was obtained from seed 

 sown about March 1. 



The use of a straw mulch increased the yield of tomatoes and 

 decreased the amount of rot, the average weight of fruit per plant 

 being 14.6 lbs. in case of the mulched plants, and 12.2 lbs. in case of 

 the plants without mulch, and the percentages of rot 0.07 and 1.88, 

 respectively. 



Various methods of handling tomato plants previous to setting them 

 in the field were tested. Part of the plants were left in the seed bed 

 until ready to be planted in the garden and were then set in the soil with 

 a dibble. Another lot of plants was treated in the same way, except 

 that they were set in holes previously dug for them. The third lot was 

 transplanted from the seed beds to flats, later transferred to other flats, 

 and when removed to the field holes were dug for them. A fourth lot 

 was treated like the third, except that the plants were transplanted 

 from the first flat to 1-quart vegetable cans. A fifth lot was also treated 

 like the third, except that the plants were set in the garden with a dib- 

 ble. A sixth lot was transplanted from the seed bed into 2-inch pots, 

 transferred to 3J-inch pots, and when set in the garden holes were dug 

 for them. The plants from pots gave the best results and those from 

 vegetable cans next best. The difference between the other methods 

 was not very great. The author considers the increased yield due to 

 growing young plants in pots sufficient to repay the extra expense made 

 necessary by the use of pots. 



A test of tomato cuttings vs. seedlings for forcing house culture' 

 resulted decidedly in favor of the seedlings. From experiments with 

 seedlings and cuttings for outdoor culture, the author concludes that 

 cuttings give more, earlier, and smaller fruit than seedlings. 



