Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 347 



sown in the middle of Marcli, in boxes, in the shop. By 1st April, 

 when sowing our hot bed, they were four inches high ; we transplanted 

 them into a hot bed about the 4th of April, one inch apart. They 

 were set in turf land, a light calcareous loam. The varieties were the 

 early smooth, Cedar Hill, Keyes' Prolific, and Tilden. Of these the Til- 

 den was the earliest, but the seed was of my own selecting. The other 

 three commenced ripening together ; the seedT obtained of a friend. 

 The early smooth is like a large apple, smooth, dark, greenish red, 

 heavy, and abundant. Cedar Hill is not free entirely from roughness, 

 larger than the early smooth by one-third ; a handsome .bright red, 

 ratlier tende]-, but full of meat ; its best characteristic is to ripen up 

 quick, not being thoroughly ripe on one side, and green on the other, but 

 all ripe and red. Keyes' prolific is a good solid tomato ; the largest 

 ripen first, in size like medium apples, bears well. I have tried the 

 Tilden four years ; have in creased its earliness seven days in that time. 

 One thing I noticed that I have not seen mentioned by correspondents ; 

 the Tilden tomato has two distinct shades of color ; one is bright 

 red, bordering on the yellow, or, at least, not so deep and handsome 

 as the Cedar Ilill ; the other is a deep flesh color, like the old fashioned 

 beetsteak tomato. The first is solid, and tough to the feel ; the last 

 is soft, even beforje fully ripe, not so heavy ; still they have the same 

 shape, and ripen alike. For the last five years I have tried to get the 

 earliest tomatoes that close attention, skill, and good cultivation would 

 produce, and here, on the side of Mount Lebanon, in Columbia 

 county, 1,200 feet above tide water level, in latitude forty-two degrees, 

 we seldom fail to obtain ripe tomatoes by tlie 1st of August, by simple 

 out door culture. 



Protection foe the Originatoks of N^ew Frfffs. 

 * Mr. Jacob Moore, Pochester, K. Y. — The originators of fruits are 

 not protected by the government, and consequently they are witliout 

 adequate remuneration. Are they not as much entitled to i^rotection 

 as inventors and authors ? Originators of fruits should be protected 

 for three reasons. First, because the present system of disseminating 

 new fruits deprives the originator of a fair opportunity of profiting 

 by the work of his hands, and is, therefore, in efiect, a transgression 

 of the eighth commandment, namely : '' Thou shalt not steal." Pro- 

 tection would stimulate the production of improved varieties, and 

 bring the fruits of the country to the highest degree of excellence. 

 The production of good fruit conduces to the health, happiness, 



