13 



In this experiment the pruning was the same as in the preceding 

 one. No measurements, however, were made of the fruit but the 

 weight of the fruit on the pruned and check plants was taken when 

 it was matured, and also that of the remaining fruit at the close of the 

 experiment. The data in this table show that there was 8 per cent 

 more fruit and 14 per cent more in weight on the pruned than on the 

 check plants. The average weight of the fruit on the pruned plants ex- 

 ceeded that of the checks by i o per cent, and at the close of the experi- 

 ment, it was found that the pruned plants had produced 17 per cent 

 more ripe fruit than the check plants. 



Table IV, showing the amount of fruit, etc., obtained from twenty-six 

 check and twenty-six pruned tomato plants. Two stem 

 plants used. Pruning consisted in removing the lower 

 leaves. Duration of experiment, three months. 



Xo. of fruit. Average yield Total weight. Average weight, 



per plant. 



Checks 303 II. 6 17253 grams 56 grams 



Pruned 264 10. i ^5983 " 60 " 



Gain of pruned over check plants S*"/. 



Table IV gives the results of an experiment similar to the preced- 

 ing one, in which 52 plants were used, one half of which were pruned 

 and the other half left as checks. They were grown in 10 inch pots, 

 no measurements being made of the plants, but the ripe fruit was 

 picked and weighed as it matured. This experiment lasted three 

 months, at the close of whicii the remaining green fruit was weighed. 

 The pruned plants, as before, had the lower leaves removed. There 

 was 12 per cent more fruit on the check plants than on the pruned, 

 and there was 10 per cent more ripe fruit on the pruned plants than 

 on the checks. 



These experiments, which consisted in the removal of a few of the 

 lower leaves, show that pruning exerts an appreciable influence on 

 the development of the stem and fruit. They were not conducted, 

 however, with the special purpose of ascertaining whether this method 

 of pruning constituted the most desirable one. the object being to 

 obtain some idea concerning the plasticity of the tomato plant, as 

 well as to determine just how much a certain type of pruning will 

 affect the plant. For practical purposes other methods of pruning 



