294 



EXPERIENCES WITH TOMATOES. 



brid, though not so smooth and not so well selected. 

 Kept 5 days. 



Shall (IVhite Mikado). — Like Mikado, only light, and 

 like all yellow sorts, very watery and thin when cooked ; 

 cracked badly. Kept 6 days. 



Netv JersL-y. — Ripe in i26davs. Very fine, large, solid, 

 bright red, of good quality ; bears well and cracked but 

 little in rain. Kept 6 days. 



Early IVasJiington. — Ripe in 125 days. Badly wrinkled 

 and worthless. 



Hovey. — Ripe in 125 days. Bright red, smooth, solid, 

 good. Kept 15 days. 



Hundred Day. — Ripe in 129 days. Wrinkled and 

 cracked ; worthless. 



Garfield. — Ripe in 134 days. Large size, smooth, fine 

 red color, solid ; light bearer, cracked in rain. Kept 7 

 days. 



Conqueror . — Ripe in 134 days. Fair size, good qual- 

 ity, light bearer; cracked in rain. Kept 19 days. 



Extra Early Advance. — Ripe in 126 days. Medium 

 size, medium quality, wrinkled, good crop ; rotted in rain. 

 Kept 7 days. 



Early Co)iqtieror . — Like Canada Victor in all respects. 



Canada J'ie/or. — Ripe in 125 days. Gave a moderate 

 crop of somewhat wrinkled fruit, of good size; rotted 

 badly in rain. Kept 6 days. 



Essex Hybrid. — Ripe in 141 days. Large, smooth, 

 solid, bright red, good crop and long continued ; cracked 

 but little in rain. Kept 7 days. 



New Queen. — Ripe in 130 days. Fair size, smooth and 

 solid, fine red color, large crop, long time in bearing, 

 cracked but little in rain. Kept 5 days. 



Hatha7vay' s Excelsior. — Ripe in 128 days. Medium 

 size, rather rough, bright red; did not rot much in rain. 

 Kept 5 days. 



Cook's Eavoriie. — Ripe in 131 days. Good crop, 

 smooth, fairly solid, well ripened at stem, though 

 cracked in rain. Kept 21 days. 



Jubilee. — Ripe in 128 days. Large, wrinkled, yellow, 

 ■very acid for its color, not equal to Golden Trophy in 

 any way ; cracked much, and rotted in rain. Kept 5 

 days. 



Golden I'rophy. — Ripe in 126 days. By far the best 

 and most solid yellow sort grown ; light yellow, with 

 slight blush on some fruits. Kept 5 days. 



Extra Early Cluster. — Ripe in 124 days. Good crop, 

 bright red, somewhat wrinkled ; stood rain well. Kept 

 18 days. 



Winter Improved Tree. — Ripened with Dwarf Cham- 

 pion, which it resembles in growth, but gave a larger 

 crop of fine, smooth, Acme-colored fruit ; solid and good, 

 like all the color. Did not keep well. 



Finch' s Essex Hybrid. — This is an improvement on Es- 

 sex Hybrid in bearing and size; fruit large, bright red, 

 well ripened at stem, and solid ; cracked but little in rain. 

 Kept 19 days. 



One tomato on my list deserves more than a passing 

 notice, being so much in advance of any grown that, 

 with the reader's indulgence and an apology for seeming 



to press a new or good thing, I propose to describe from 

 facts, as I have done with the others, the Ignotum. The 

 Ignotum ripened in 116 days from seed, and kept 18 

 days in the trial with the rest. It was a sport from a 

 German variety grown by Prof. L. H. Bailey, now of 

 the Cornell Experiment Station, and by him distributed 

 in small lots to test. I was fortunate to get from him 

 seed from which I raised twenty-three plants. It was 

 second earliest, and should be placed at the head of the 

 list for all purposes, family, market or canning. It is a 

 large, bright scarlet, very solid and mealy, free from 

 hard core, of best flavor for eating raw on table. It is 

 a very heavy tomato, although I do not consider weight 

 a true test of a tomato's merit. Water is heavy, and 

 very many tomatoes when cooked are but little else than- 

 water ; but not so with this one. As soon as done it is 

 very thick, as was proved in several instances when 

 tested with other good kinds, and it was thicker when 

 "done" than others were after two hours' evaporating. 

 The season was the longest of any grown, being from 

 July 24th until October 12th, when the vines were killed 

 by frost, though still loaded with fruit in all stages. 

 This is a record to be admired. 



The Cornell Bulletin for October says: "It is by far 

 the finest market tomato which we have ever grown. Its 

 particular points of superiority are its large size, regu- 

 larity of shape, solidity, productiveness and uniformity 

 throughout the season. It is the largest and heaviest of 

 the perfectly regular tomatoes and the most solid of any 

 of the market sorts. The pickings from our patches 

 this year were usually fit for the market as they came 

 from the vines ; and the last picking, October loth, after 

 a long season, was scarcely inferior to the best picking 

 of the season." Mine certainly doubled the Cornell 

 plants in yield and size, fruits in pickings averaging one 

 pound each. Every market gardener on seeing them 

 was anxious to be booked for seed, so impressed were 

 they by the beauty of the fruit. It may be expected 

 that this variety will be widely distributed. 



As a summary of my experiment, I would recommend 

 for either family or market use the following, in the 

 order named : 



E'or Eainily. — Ignotum, Horsford's Prelude, Station. 



Market: Red. — Ignotum, Volunteer, Livingston's Fa- 

 vorite, Matchless, New Jersey, Paragon, Lorillard, 

 Finch's Essex Hybrid. Purple, Acme, Turner's Hy- 

 brid, Livingston's Potato Leaf, Livingston's Beauty, 

 Climax. Yellow, Golden Trophy, Golden Queen. 



For my own growing, I should strike from this list the 

 last sixteen named and think I had enough ; growing so 

 many varieties has only confirmed my impressions in re- 

 spect to the uselessness of their multiplication. 



Long Island. N. Hallock. 



[Mr. Hallock's experiments, the results of which are 

 above first presented, are worthy careful study. The 

 collection was shown at a New York seed store when in 

 perfection, and attracted a great amount of attention and 

 comment. — Ed. Am. Garden.] 



