YIELDS OF TOMATOES. 169 
plants were of equal value, but the buried plants were 
distinctly inferior. It should be said, however, that such 
tests are of comparatively little value, because the merits 
of the buried and sprout-made plants depend very much 
upon the vigor and healthfulness of the parent plants. 
As a result of several years’ experience, we now habit- 
ually grow our tomato plants from seeds. 
Yields and prices. — It will be seen from the foregoing 
discussion that any statement of the yield per plant of 
house tomatoes must be utterly valueless unless the 
method of training is given. The yield from  two- 
stemmed plants may be twice as great as that from 
single-stem training, and the yield from double cropping 
of one plant will be from two to four times as much as 
from a single crop ; and much will depend upon the time 
of year. Some of the reports which have been made of 
enormous yields must be untrue. The true way to esti- 
mate yield is by the amount of floor space covered. 
In our experience we obtain from 1% lbs. to 2 Ibs. 
per stem (or plant) in midwinter, and about twice to three 
times as much in spring, or an average of 3 lbs. or more 
for the season. This amount is produced on 1% to 2 sq. 
ft. of soil. Mr. Pennock obtains from 8 lbs. to 1o Ibs. 
to the plant for the season, but his plants cover 5 sq. ft. 
The practical results of the two systems are therefore 
about the same—about 2 pounds to the square foot ;* 
but the uniform single-stem systen has some advantages 
in ease of manipulation, and the plants are so numerous 
that the loss of one by any accident is not so serious as in 
the other case. It should be said that the reported yields 
of house tomatoes are usually made from the spring crop, 
not from the winter crop. A winter crop, to be profit- 
able, should average at least 2 lbs. to the plant, in close 
planting and single-stem training, and a spring crop 
* This is over three times the yield per square foot in field culture 
in this latitude. 
