l68 TOMATO. 



in over the plants, and the tip grows the same as a 

 young plant. We have not found this method quite so 

 satisfactory as the training out of new shoots. The yield 

 has not been quite so heavy as from single second shoots, 

 although fruits were obtained fully as early as from shoots 

 which were a foot long when the test was started. But 

 it is a somewhat laborious operation, and some of the 

 stiffer plants are apt to be cracked in the handling ; and 

 in box culture it is necessary to pull out one or two of 

 the four plants in order to make room for the operation. 

 A third way of obtaining the second crop is by means 

 of new seedling plants. This is the common method. 

 Plants are started from seeds two or three months be- 

 forehand, and are transplanted two or three times into 

 pots. At the final shifting they are taken from 4- or 5- 

 inch pots and placed in permanent quarters. At this 

 time they should be from 18 inches to 2 feet high, or 

 ready for the first tying up. We find that seedlings will 

 bear about the same time and to the same extent as 

 sprouts which are of equal length to begin with. The 

 preference would seem to be, therefore, for sprouts, as they 

 avoid the previous labor of sowing and handling ; and 

 the seedlings take up valuable room while growing. But 

 accidents are likely to occur to the old plants ; and an ad- 

 vantage which seedling plants have over sprouts lies in 

 the complete change of soil which is possible when seed- 

 lings are grown. 



An experiment made (in boxes) at Cornell (in mid- 

 winter) upon the comparative merits of seedling, buried 

 and sprout-made plants (one sprout being allowed to grow 

 from the stump of the old plant) gave the following data : 



Average yield from seedlings 9 fruits per plant. 



" buried plants .... 



" sprouts 



Highest production in seedlings 



" buried plants . . 

 " sprouts 



This test showed that the seedlings and sprout-made 



