170 



TOMATO. 



should average 4 Ibs. to the plant. In a good crop of 

 tomatoes, the fruits should average about three to a 

 cluster in winter, and about four or five in spring. Fig. 

 58 (page 171) shows a good cluster of forced tomatoes. 



We have made experiments to determine if the second 

 crop from the plant is influenced by the amount of the 

 first crop. The tests were made with both buried and 

 sprout plants. For one series we used the plants which 

 bore the heaviest midwinter crop, and for the other those 

 which stood in partial shade and had borne nothing. 

 The results show that the first crop did not influence the 

 bearing capacity of the second stage so long as the parent 

 plants remained healthy. And they also show that 

 amount of crop is not a fixed trait of the individual 

 plant; /. e., a plant which bears little at first may bear 

 heavily the second time, and vice versa. 



The actual figures of yields and prices of commercial 

 growers of forced tomatoes will be helpful. In a certain 

 crop of Lorillard tomatoes, 673 plants, the total pickings 

 were as follows : 



For March ...................... 15 Ibs. 



" April ....................... 783 " 



" May ...................... 862 " 



" June ....................... 905 " 



" July ..................... 338 " 



This is is an average of 4.3 Ibs. per plant. This is a 

 large average yield. In midwinter, the crop could not be 

 expected to be much more than half this amount. These 

 plants were trained to a single stem. 



Following are extracts from the letters of four 

 growers : 



"We set our plants about 2x2% ft. One house, 112 ft. 

 long by 23 ft. wide, had 8 rows of plants and about 54 

 per row, and yielded over 4,000 Ibs. of fruit from De- 

 cember 20 to July i. My recollection is that you grew 

 much closer together and had about the same yield per 



