Feb., 1927] PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS 29 



instance almost exactly proportional to the amount of stable manure 

 applied. Ordinarily, however, one would expect a proportionately 

 greater result from a light application of stable manure than from 

 additional increments. In this case three plots, namely 2, 4, and 6, 

 which receive chemicals in addition to manure, produced slightly fewer 

 runner plants than the number which would be proportional to the 

 manure applied. It is evident that these chemicals do not improve the 

 growth of the plants, and there is some indication that the number of 

 new plants is slightly less than would have been obtained had no chem- 

 icals been used. 



The results with green manure are conflicting. The number of new 

 l)lants formed was relatively low on Plot 7. This may be due to soil 

 conditions resulting from the incorporation of green manure, but there 

 is scarcely evidence enough to make this conclusion positive. In Plot 

 3 conditions evidently were more favorable for production of new 

 plants than in any of the other plots except the two receiving the larg- 

 est amount of stable manure. If the results from Plot 3 could be 

 accepted, they would indicate a benefit from the use of commercial 

 fertilizers in connection with green manure. However, it is not possible 

 to corroborate this evidence from the results in other plots, as is the 

 case with stable manure and chemicals. Since the conclusions are de- 

 pendent in each case on a single plot, one cannot be positive that the 

 results are not due to some inherent difference in the fertility or mois- 

 ture supph^ 



A study of the runner system originating from each mother plant 

 was made in October. This indicates that in all plots the number of 

 plants taking root from each runner is very uniform. ]3rovided the 

 runners are not branched. The plots which had more stable manure 

 produced a greater numbei' of runners and a larger proportion were 

 branched. Branched runners produce more and larger plants than 

 straight rimners. 



The results on the whole indicate that connnercial fertilizers, par- 

 ticularly when used to sui)i)lement apjilications of stable manure, are 

 of no value and in fact are probably somewhat harmful. This raises 

 an interesting question as to why and how the strawberry plants are 

 harmed. 



Tomato Variety Tests — {Hatch Fund) 



The tomato variety tests again show that the early and second-early 

 are the only dependable varieties for New Hampshire conditions. 

 Among the new sorts tried, Canadien, an early variety originated at 

 the Guelph Experiment Station, shows promise. It is a large tomato 

 with considerably more foliage than Earliana. Stark is a large, med- 

 ium early tomato which also shows excellent promise on its first trial. 

 The results in yield and size of fruit based on a test of about six 

 plants of each variety are sho\\n in Table XIV. 



Investigation of tomato varieties was begun in 1925 to determine 

 whether the relative maturity of standard early, medium early, and 

 late varieties was due to earlier growth and earlier production of blos- 

 som clusters or to the hastening of tlie ripening period in the early 

 kinds. Three strains of Earliana, two of Canadien, and one each of 



