EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT. 453 



The ''Aroadia- Aome " Family. 



In the matter of popularity the two parents in this group are the 

 extremes, for the '•Arcadia" is not mentioned in the Tracy list,* 

 while the "Acme" is exceeded in number of seed-houses handling it 

 by only "Beauty," "Stone," "Dwarf Champion," "Perfection" and 

 "Livingston's Favorite." The "Arcadia" is red-fruited, while the 

 ""Acme" is pink or purple. Both are early and the "Arcadia," having 

 a larger fruit than the "Acme," it was the hope to increase the size 

 of the latter and possibly secure some other advantageous charac- 

 teristics. 



The first cross — that is, a half blood — gave an even lot of average 

 plants, three of which produced pink fruits that were comparatively 

 smooth. The other three had red fruits, and these were somewhat 

 fl!at and irregular. They were all early. The male parent upon the 

 cross gave two types of plants — one like the "Arcadia," with large,' 

 flat, irregular fruits, and the other (two plants) like the "Acme," 

 which were smooth and prolific. The row containing the reciprocal of 

 the last did not differ from that essentially. In case of the "Acme" 

 upon the cross, the plants were uniform in size and the fruits also 

 smooth and larger than the "Acme." Four were pink and two red. 

 The red-fruited plants were more productive than those producing 

 the pink fruits. The reciprocal of the last — that is, the cross upon 

 ''Acme" — had only three plants, two of which were pink and one red. 

 The fruits were smooth, medium-sized and quite like the last. It 

 remains to be determined whether there is any substantial gain in this 

 series of crosses over the parents. 



The "Ponderosa-Marvel"' Family. 



The "Ponderosa" is a large, standard, fine-leaved variety of tomato 

 plant that has become very popular for its great fruits, from which 

 fact it takes its name, which are of a decidedly irregular shape but 

 of a handsome "pink" color, while the "Marvel" is much less known, 

 and differs in the more nearly smooth, medium-sized red fruits, which 

 mature evenly and somewhat earlier than the. "Ponderosa." 



* Bulletin U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry. List 

 of American Vegetables for the years 1901 and 1902, by W. W. Tracy, Jr. 



