144 MAINE STATE COLLEGE. 



of culture, and render conclusions drawn from a single season's 

 work very unreliable. 



4. * Crossing : — The work of developing a tomato which shall be 

 of sufficient earliness to be profitable as a market crop in those 

 sections where the seasons are short, was detailed in our last annual 

 report. t Selections and further crosses were made the past season 

 with interesting and promising results. 



The Lor illard- Peach cross showed a less marked increase over 

 the pure Lorillard in number of fruits, than wos the case in the 

 first generation. In the second generation, the influence of the 

 male parent on the character of the fruit was shown by several 

 individuals which assumed the form and the rough skin of Peach. 

 The Ignotum- Peach cross showed a similar falling off in the second 

 generation, — the difference amounting to nearly 44 per cent. 



5. Varieties: — The tomatoes were started in the forcing house 

 March 27. All varieties were given the same treatment while in 

 the house, and were transferred to the open field June 1st. The 

 first ripe fruits were found July 25, on Golden Ball and Long 

 Keeper. Two days later one or more fruits were gathered from 

 Aristocrat, Great B. B., Ithaca and Maule's Earliest. 



On October 1st, when the season was practically ended, the 

 following varieties were found, in the order named, to have been 

 the most productive : Golden Ball, Improved Peach, Maule's 

 Earliest, Burpee's Climax, Lorillard, Ithaca and Belmont. Opti- 

 mas, which was the most productive sort grown last year, stood 

 ninth (or dropping the first two varieties, which are of value for 

 amateur culture only, seventh) in the list the present season. 



The large late varieties, such as Belmont, Buckeye State and 

 Stone, decayed very badly late in the season. The same is true 

 to a certain extent of Ignotum, Matchless and Optimus. 



Maule's Earliest and Burpee's Climax were both much smoother 

 than is usual with very early sorts and are promising. 



Ithaca and Long Keeper deserve the credit given in previous 

 reports. 



Lemon Blush failed to blush and was consequently inferior to 

 Golden Queen. 



Buckeye State, Royal Red and Stone, while of merit as individual 

 fruits, are all too late for our short seasons. Ponderosa will also 

 be discarded for similar reasons. 



Terra Cotta was of very unsatisfactory quality and is not a firmly 

 fixed variety. 



