AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 117 



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

 lowing 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. Optimus, which 

 was the most productive sort grown last year stood ninth (or drop- 

 ping 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 individ- 

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

 be discarded for similar reasons. 



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

 firmly fixed variety. 



Great B. B., in spite of its name is a fairly good variety. It 

 decayed badly late in the season. 



Summary. 



1 The conclusions of* former years as to the value of setting 

 tomato plants as early in the spring as possible are confirmed. 



2. Plants handled in pots previous to setting in the field are 

 more vigorous and productive than those not so handled, — a fact 

 which may be of great importance to the commercial grower. 



3. Individual variation is often such as to render the work of 

 any one season unreliable. 



4. The productiveness of any given variety may be largely 

 increased by crossing with some of the smaller less valuable sorts. 

 But this increased productiveness may be partially or wholly lost 

 in a few years even if good culture is given. The variety will 

 quickly "run out." 



5. It seems possible that seeds from plants grown under high 

 culture in the house may give better results than those from plants 

 not so treated. 



