EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT. 519 



Blank books, five and ono-half by eight and one-half inches and 

 one inch thick, are now more used than the smaller sizes in vogue 

 during the earlier years. Certain of these books are with an alphabet 

 leaf index, giving a half-dozen or so of pages to each letter. Other 

 books of the same size are without the index. The following is a 

 sample of the title of one of the books for the present season : "Tomato 

 Crosses — Gardens, 1905." In this a third of a double page is given to 

 each cross. The left-hand page of the double page records the his- 

 torical portion of the cross and the other facts, that are given in con- 

 tracted form, while upon the right-hand page more general observa- 

 tions are written out. To illustrate : 



123 



85, 3/25.5.8/31 St. Fl. R. S. M. Rd. 

 IL 



This means that the variety "Stone" (123) was crossed upon "Mich- 

 igan" (85), and the Roman numeral II. Ijelow the fraction bearing 

 the variety numters shows that this is the second generation of that 

 cross. The row of five plants was set in the Gardens upon March 

 25th (3/25). The five (5) plants all did well enough to be con- 

 sidered in the test, apd upon August 31st (8/31) the following general 

 observations were made: The plants were all of the standard (St.) 

 type, with foliage of the fine-leaved (Fl.) sort. The fruits were round 

 (R.), smooth (S.), medium (M.) in size and of a red (Rd.) color. 



These symbols occupy one line and telow them is space for any 

 remarks to qualify the above general record. Upon the right half of 

 the page observations like the following were recorded : "An even and 

 thrifty lot of plants of medium size." "An average of five ripe fruits 

 per plant in sight." "A very even-rowed set of fruits, which were a 

 little inclined to crack upon the 'shoulder.' " "Seed was saved." 

 Later, notes of inspection are made under the projx'r dates. 



In this book the crosses are arranged so that all the members of a 

 "family" are brought together, as they were in the field, which facili- 

 tates the study of crosses having the same "blood." 



The five plants in the row of tomatoes are recorded as a, h, c, d and 

 e, beginning at the upper or eastern end, and when the flowers of a 

 selected plant are "hand-worked" (pollinated) within that plant — 

 phyto-fertilized, as it might be termed — the record upon the wire- 

 wood label indicates the fact by the letter which stands for the plant 



d 



in the form of a fraction. Thus ^ means that the seed secured was 



