EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT 295 



By comparing the 878 instances from rich soil with the 452 

 from poor ground, a total of 1,330 counts, it is seen that the aver- 

 age for the former is nearly midway between 14 and 15 seed- 

 cavities, while for the poor soil plants is nearly midway between 

 12 and 13, or practically two seed-cavities less for the latter and 

 suggesting that the number is much influenced by the conditions 

 under which the plants are grown. 



Plate XXXIII gives an enlarged face view of the capsules 

 under consideration, the range of seed-cavities being from ten at 

 I to sixteen at 7. 



Similar results were found with the allied plant previously 

 mentioned, namely, the "Cheeses" {Malva rotundifolia L.). 



BARREL SHADING. 



In a small way a test was made of putting barrels over three 

 kinds of plants, namely, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. When 

 the upper head was left in, the covered plants did poorly and had 

 it not been removed within a few days the plants would have 

 perished; this was particularly true of the tomatoes, which 

 seemed to be far more sensitive to the- lack of light and air and 

 possibly higher temperature than with the peppers and eggplants. 

 With both heads removed, the barreled plants generally grew to 

 much greater length than those with ordinary exposure. Only 

 barrels of the open sort used for marketing coarse truck crops 

 were suitable for the shading; an ordinary apple or flour barrel 

 with both heads removed gives too much shade while the plant 

 is small and it is probable that the lack of air circulation is not 

 favorable for best growth. 



The tomato plants, for example, grew to great length for, after 

 reaching the top of the barrel, the stems bent down and reached 

 the ground, thus producing plants of large size and of a striking 

 appearance but not remarkable for an early output of fruit. It 

 is true that the crop was much prolonged and, by covering such 

 plants with sacking, they were kept in a thriving condition far 

 into the late autumn. 



In one case, the Imrrel was placed around a pepper of the truly 

 dwarf type but without materially increasing the height of the 

 plant. It was, however, noted that the covered plant showed a 

 marked large development of foliage and the individual leaves 

 were much broader — this being one of the elongated leaf-type of 

 plants — than the others of the same kind in full exposure to the 

 sun and air. Another pepper plant was much retarded by the 

 shading but flowered profusely late in the season. 



