284 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



li<yliting the. owner for the little care 

 one is obliged to l)esto\v upon them. — 

 Farm and Fireside. 



TOMATOES. 



N. Y. AGRICULTURAL EXPERTMENT STATION. 



When the tomato was fir.st known 

 to our gardens, it was a rough ribbed 

 fruit. It has been improved, until 

 now we think that most people will 

 af'ree that its smooth and regular form, 

 together with the size, at least medium, 

 are most important chai-acters, and 

 these together with earliness, enter 

 into our judgment of what constitutes 

 merit. The .-flight differences in color 

 and flavour that appear in the nume- 

 rous red varieties are, so far as family 

 use is concerned, of but secondary 

 importance, and we rarely find a variety 

 so unprolific as to be condemned as not 

 yielding a sufficient quantity for do- 

 mestic supply. 



In the Station garden we have 

 grown nearly all varieties as purchased 

 from seedsmen, and we are led to won- 

 der why so many undesirable kinds are 

 retained, as it surely costs no more to 

 grow the fruit of the best than of the 

 poorest sorts. We therefore assort our 

 varieties as grown at the Station, into 

 two lists, the tii'st of which includes 

 those which possess sufficient merit to 

 make them worthy of cultivation ; the 

 second list includes those which might 

 as well in the future be dropped from 

 consideration. 



The Cardinal, a so-called new 

 variety, producing large, bright scarlet 

 fruit, which is usually nearly or quite 

 smooth, but quite late in ripening. 



The Favorite, (Livingston's Favorite) 

 we have hitherto recommended. It is 

 medium in season, and this we regard 

 as its greiitest fault. 



The New Red Apple yields medium 

 to lai-ge, \Qij smooth fruits, which 

 matured this season earlier than either 

 of the above sorts. 



The Perfection (Livingston's Perfec- 

 tion) produces medium to large, veiy 

 deep red fruits, usually smooth, but 

 often rough at the blossom end. lu 

 season about the same as the Favorite. 

 The Paragon yields very smooth, 

 medium to small scarlet fruits which 

 commenced ripening this year five days 

 before the Favorite or Perfection. 



The Red Chief yields bright scarlet 

 fruits of medium size, usually smooth ; 

 in season medium. 



Rochester yields fruit of the largest 

 size, of a deep red color, rather smooth 

 upon the whole, although often rough 

 about the stems. A late variety. 



Tilden's New yields bright scarlet, 

 small to medium fruits, usually very 

 smooth. 



The Acme, though faultless in form, 

 has the fault of rotting badly in sec- 

 tions where tomatoes are subject to this 

 disease. Its earliness, together with 

 the remarkable smootliness of its fruit, 

 will doubtless retain for it many 

 friends. We are growing two sorts 

 which are the same as the Acme ; the 

 one, Essex Early Hybrid, the other, a 

 variety, the seeds of which were said to 

 have come from South America. 



Tlie Early Red Smooth, with us, 

 seems to be the same as the Extra 

 Early Red, and the Early Round Red 

 Smooth. It has the merit of earliness. 

 smoothness of fruit, and little tendency 

 to I'ot. We rank this as one of the 

 most desirable of sorts. 



The Mayjiower we have already re- 

 commended. This variety, however, 

 still has the tendency to produce small 

 fruits which we hope may disappear 

 after a little longer selection. It is 

 early, but with us, has not sustained 

 its reputation as being one of the first 

 earlies. 



The Boston Market, produces medium 

 to small fruits, usually very smooth, 

 but only medium in season. 



