EXPERIMENT STATION. 17 



The pots seem to induce early maturity and early fruitful- 

 Bess. This was j^articularly noticeable this year, as the varieties 

 were in bearing some days before any of the main crop, 

 although, as will be seen, some of them were planted first, and 

 all set on practically the same kind of ground. 



The pot system takes more time and occupies more space, 

 but if this year is a criterion, it surely pays. 



This year was an exceptionally poor one for tomatoes, as the 

 drought, from before the time of planting until some time after 

 the fruits had begun to ripen, was not only a decided check on 

 the growth of the plant but was also conducive to dry rot. 

 The kind of soil the tomatoes were planted on made a differ- 

 ence in the amount of rot; where the soil was inclined to dry 

 out the rot was much more prevalent. In the patch at the 

 station this year there was one corner which was planted on a 

 loamy, moist soil, and there was very little rot on this portion 

 of the patch. AATiere the soil was the most clayey the rot was 

 the worst. 



Practically all trouble from dry rot was over after the rain 

 of September 11, and all of the rot worthy of mention occurred 

 before this date. 



