EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT. 303 



frequently, there is a navel structure of especial weakness be- 

 cause of its providing a means of access to germs of decay. 

 Tomatoes, as now generally grown, lie upon the earth and the 

 "blossom end," if rough with folds in the surface brings the 

 pulp near to the skin and such are much more apt to rot than 

 those that are uniformly thick-walled, pointed and guarded with 

 a smooth surface. 



Breeding for length, therefore, in the large-fruited tomatoes is 

 between those that are long in the polar axis, as in the "plum" 

 and "pear," and those sorts that will give breadth in the cross. 

 The long, slender-fruited sorts, like those shown in the upper 

 left-hand corner of Plate IX., as a rule have an objectionable in- 

 terior, the seed cavities (locules) being few, often, two, and of 

 a type approaching probably the wild form. Such tomatoes are 

 flabby, that is, the sides are not well filled out and the percentage 

 of seeds and watery pulp is great and the solid flesh correspond- 

 ingly small. The task of getting out of the fruits now known 

 a marketably large fruit that has a long polar axis, far exceeding 

 the equatorial diameter, and at the same time a satisfactory 

 flesh is one to which the department is addressed. The "goose- 

 egg" type is the desideratum in which the locules shall be many, 

 the central core broken and the slice show throughout a "mar- 

 bled" flesh of uniform rich color and but a single seed in each 

 of the numerous cavities. 



The hope is indulged that some progress is being made, as 

 may be seen from an inspection of the fruits shown in longitudi- 

 nal view in Plate IX. Original types are shown in the first four 

 numbers; the others are all combinations. At 5, is a view of a 

 fairly constant set of fruits that was obtained by a cross of 

 "Ponderosa" upon "Sumatra Fig." The male is a widely known 

 sort noted for its large size of fruit and has a low seed content. 

 One of its chief defects is its flatness and irregularity, particu- 

 larly at the blossom end where it is often broken and, in this 

 respect, the two parents were nearly opposites, for the "Sumatra 

 Fig," as the name suggests, is fig or pear-shaped, and the blossom 

 end oval and smooth. The result of this cross has been a fruit 

 that is a fair blend of the two in size and shape, and when, by 



