58 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE. 



former about 1.15 square feet. The plants in soil had three 

 weeks the start of those in ashes and peat, being set in the 

 beds on December 7th, while the plants were not set in the 

 ashes and peat until December 3ist. These facts render 

 any very strict comparison of the two impossible, nor was 

 strict comparison intended when the experiment was begun. 

 The following facts, however, deserve notice. In what fol- 

 lows we refer only to the crops grown on plots 7 and 8. 

 The others, 4, 5, and 6, had no adequate supply of nitrogen, 

 and it must also be borne in mind that plots 7 and 8 in all 

 probabilty did not have a full supply of either nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid, or potash. 



"The tomatoes grown in ashes and peat grew and 

 fruited much more rapidly than those in natural soil, and 

 then suddenly stopped their growth and bearing, the leaves 

 turned brown and the plants appeared to be dead. They 

 were not dead, however, by any means, and after cutting 

 back to near the roots and supplying more fertilizers, they 

 made a new and vigorous growth and fruited again. The 

 plants grown in natural soil, however, kept bearing a little 

 fruit till the following July, when they were thrown out to 

 make room for other experiments. 



"We believe the plants in peat and ashes fruited mure 

 quickly and abundantly, because they had at first a larger 

 supply of soluble plant food than those in natural soil : 

 that when that was exhausted, they had no resource, and 

 died back in consequence: that if they had been suffi- 

 ciently fertilized, they would have proved far more prolific 

 and profitable than those in natural soil. To decide this 

 will be one point in further experiments. 



"The following statement gives the average yield per 

 plant of the three varieties (4 plants of each) on plot 8 in 

 artificial soil with commercial fertilizers, also the average 

 yield per plant (an equal number of each of the three varie- 

 ties was used to calculate this) of the three varieties grown 

 in rich natural soil up to April i7th, the date when, as al- 

 ready described, the plants in artificial soil died back for 



