356 Notes as to Tomato Growing. [sept., 



nitrogen) of 100 individual roots of a strain of Yellow-fleshed 

 Globe, all grown side by side at the University farm in 1903. 



The results showed that while there is an evident relation 

 between the weight of root and the percentage of dry matter, 

 and that, on the whole, there is a tendency for the weight of 

 the root to fall as the dry matter rises, yet it is by no means 

 true that every large root is low in dry matter. Individuals 

 were found weighing 5 lb. and over, and containing 13 per cent, 

 or more of dry matter. There should be no difficulty in 

 selecting such roots as these for seed-mothers, and continuous 

 selection in this manner should result in raising the percentage 

 of dry matter without decreasing the cropping power. 



Again, in the case of sugar, there is evidently some corre- 

 lation with dry matter, roots with high dry matter content con- 

 taining much sugar, but the sugar forms by no means a constant 

 proportion of the dry matter in every individual. It should, 

 therefore, be quite easy to continuously select for high dry 

 matter which contains large or small proportions of sugar, 

 whichever further work shows to be desirable. 



The remaining characteristics of nitrogen, specific gravity of 

 juice, colour and shape, did not prove to be correlated in any 

 ' way, and it is concluded that the method of selection most 

 likely to result in improvement in the feeding value of mangels 

 is selection for high percentage of dry matter, and that in 

 making this selection reliance must not be placed on shape, 

 colour, or specific gravity of juice, but the dry matter in each 

 individual root must be actually determined. Experiments have 

 already been begun in this direction. 



Tomatoes are very largely grown in the United States, 

 both as a field crop and also in greenhouses. In regard to 

 ^ ^ ^ ^ the latter method of cultivation, a bulletin 

 Tomato Growing". i ssue ^ ^y the United States Department 

 of Agriculture makes some suggestions 

 which may be of interest to English growers. 



Sterilising the Soil. — The soil for the production of this crop 

 should be well decomposed loam, made, if possible, from sods 



