168 TOMATO. 
in over the plants, and the tip grows the same as a 
young plant. We have not found this method quite so 
satisfactory as the training out of new shoots. The yield 
has not been quite so heavy as from single second shoots, 
although fruits were obtained fully as early as from shoots 
which were a foot long when the test was started. But 
it is a somewhat laborious operation, and some of the 
stiffer plants are apt to be cracked in the handling; and 
in box culture it is necessary to pull out one or two of 
the four plants in order to make room for the operation. 
A third way of obtaining the second crop is by means 
of new seedling plants. This is the common method. 
Plants are started from seeds two or three months be- 
forehand, and are transplanted two or three times into 
pots. At the final shifting they are taken from 4- or 5- 
inch pots and placed in permanent quarters. At this 
time they should be from 18 inches to 2 feet high, or 
ready for the first tying up. We find that seedlings will 
bear about the same time and to the same extent as 
sprouts which are of equal length to begin with. The 
preference would seem to be, therefore, for sprouts, as they 
avoid the previous labor of sowing and handling; and - 
the seedlings take up valuable room while growing. But 
accidents are likely to occur to the old plants; and an ad- 
vantage which seedling plants have over sprouts lies in 
the complete change of soil which is possible when seed- 
lings are grown. 
An experiment made (in boxes) at Cornell (in mid- 
winter) upon the comparative merits of seedling, buried 
and sprout-made plants (one sprout being allowed to grow 
from the stump of the old plant) gave the following data: 
Average yield from seedlings ....... g fruits per plant. 
buried: plants 5 2: 7 Pilea 
% a * Sprouts: 9-7 eee 9-2 rae 5 de 
Highest production i in seedlings? 45 -t2n-ue 13: 5h a eS 
‘* buried. plants . «ieee a = 
te. ae ac sprouts on ae 13.5 ce ae ac 
This test showed that the seedlings and sprout-made 
