136 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 
its activity. Breeding and cultural methods are there- - 
fore being developed that will most surely advance the 
fruiting season in order to get the greatest possible yield 
before the coming of destructive frosts. 
A considerable amount of notable work has been 
done in recent years in ascertaining facts pertaining to- 
tomato improvement. 
Price and Drinkard of Virginia, (1908) crossed over 
twenty varieties and found that the common characters: 
of tomatoes, such as shape of fruit, color of fruit, type of 
foliage, and stature, conformed in general to Mendel’s 
Law. 
Wellington of the New York (Geneva) Experiment 
Station (1912) ascertained that crossing closely related 
varieties resulted in increasing the vigor and yield of the 
progeny, particularly in the F, generation, and persisted 
in proportion to the heterozygous condition. 
White of Maryland, (1913) carried on experiments. 
calculated to induce variations in the tomato by culture. 
Using the small red cherry tomato and fertilizing with: 
dried blood he induced permanent increase in size of both 
plant and fruit and an improvement in the quality of 
the fruit which persisted to the sixth generation. 
. Myers of Pennsylvania, (1914) in testing out num- 
erous strains of six varieties of tomatoes, found variations 
in yield between strains which amounted to more than 
thirteen tons per acre of marketable fruit. 
Groth of New Jersey, (1911-1915) published a 
series of bulletins on heredity and correlation of. struc- 
tural characters in tomatoes. He studied the heredity 
of size, shape, and number of leaves, cotyledons, and 
fruits, and reached the conclusion that ‘‘the constancy of 
unit factors of size and shape must be gravely doubted 
in view of the influence which supposedly absent factors 
may have upon the development of those present.” 
Hayes and Jones of Vermont, (1916) obtained 
results in agreement with the fact that the tomato is 
naturally almost completely self-fertilized. They self- 
fertilized four commercial varieties for three and four 
years with no resulting decrease in the size or yield of 
fruit. They verified the findings of others—that carefully 
chosen crosses gave an increase in both the number and. 
