EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT. 257 



The marked differences in the vegetation of a normal and no- 

 fruited plant are shown in Plate XVIII where the total growth of 

 stem and foliage was in marked excess of the normal when the 

 bearing of forming fruit was proscribed. 



The single fruit borne by a plant showed an increase in weight 

 and firmness of texture but no change of form. In other words, 

 any hope of getting a very unusual size in the fruit by this re- 

 striction was not realized. While it is doubtless true that the 

 excessive formation of fruit conduces to inferior size and quality, 

 and, contrariwise, thinning of fruits upon plants with a strong 

 tendency to prolificness is very advantageous, it seems quite 

 evident that there is a certain limit set for every plant as to the 

 actual size of its individual fruits; and beyond this there is no 

 hope of carrying it by any methods of culture, whether by exces- 

 sive nutrition or thinning, etc. Thus ringing of branches for 

 prize-taking specimens, however successful, never overcomes the 

 varietal characteristics, one of which is size ; and while well- 

 thinned fruit may be so different from the ordinary specimens 

 as to seem new, this is due to a lack of familiarity by the observer 

 with the variety in its best estate. There is a large field in de- 

 veloping a knowledge of the models of plant products, that is, the 

 most highly developed expression of the commercial product of 

 our crop plants. The effect of this restriction of product upon 

 the seeds of plant off'springs (in other words, upon the de- 

 scendants through succeeding generations) is a large part of 

 the project and one that must need years of actual trial. 



The upper half of Plate XVIII shows two tomato plants; the 

 one upon the right had been limited to a single fruit, while 

 the left-hand plant in an adjoining hill was allowed to bear fruit 

 without stint. As a result, the former produced a large output 

 of stems, leaves and blooms, and the latter remaining compara- 

 tively small bore a full quota of fruits. 



EGGPL.\NTS. 



In the same manner as with the tomatoes, two sets of limitation 

 tests were carried out with eggplants, — one with the cross of 

 "Black Snake" upon "Round White," and the second, "Black 

 Pekin" upon "Long White," specimen fruits of both of which 

 are shown elsewhere in this report. The large number of plants 

 of these crosses (loi and 127 respectively) permitted of a more 

 extended test and here twenty plants composed each block taken 

 from the midst of the whole plot of each cross. 



Results given in tabulated form below agree generally with 

 those for the tomatoes. The plants having no fruits permitted 



