58 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE. 
former about 1.15 square feet. The plants in soil had three 
weeks the start of those in ashes and peat, being set in the 
beds on December 7th, while the plants were not set in the 
ashes and peat until December 31st. These facts render 
any very strict comparison of the two impossible, nor was 
strict comparison intended when the experiment was begun. 
The following facts, however, deserve notice. In what fol- 
lows we refer only to the crops grown on plots 7 and 8. 
The others, 4, 5, and 6, had no adequate supply of nitrogen, 
and it must also be borne in mind that plots 7 and 8 in all 
probabilty did not have a full supply of either nitrogen, 
phosphoric acid, or potash, 
‘““The tomatoes grown in ashes and peat grew and 
fruited much more rapidly than those in natural soil, and 
then suddenly stopped their growth and bearing, the leaves 
turned brown and the plants appeared to be dead. They 
were not dead, however, by any means, and after cutting 
back to near the roots and supplying more fertilizers, they 
made a new and vigorous growth and fruited again. The 
plants grown in natural soil, however, kept bearing a little 
fruit till the following July, when ‘they were thrown out to 
make room for other experiments. 
‘‘We believe the plants in peat and ashes fruited more 
quickly and abundantly, because they had at first a larger 
supply of soluble plant food than those in natural soil :— 
that when that was exhausted, they had no resource, and 
died back in consequence :—that if they had been suffi- 
ciently fertilized, they would have proved far more prolific 
and profitable than those in natural soil. To decide this 
will be one point in further experiments. 
‘“The following statement gives the average yield per 
plant of the three varieties (4 plants of each) on plot 8 in 
artificial soil with commercial fertilizers, also the average 
yield per plant (an equal number of each of the three varie- 
ties was used to calculate this) of the three varieties grown 
in rich natural soil up to April 17th, the date when, as al- 
ready described, the plants in artificial soil died back for 
