THE TOMATO INDUSTRY OF THE ARKANSAS VALLEY. I 3 
low states that he replanted some missing hills in June 
but at picking time could discern no difference. This, I 
think can be accounted for from the fact that the vines 
were extremely large, very closely planted together and 
difficult to tell one plant from another. The rows were 
four feet apart and the plants 3% feet in the row. One 
plant occupied about 14 square feet of land, hence an 
acre contained about one-third more plants than are or¬ 
dinarily grown. The fruit was a very fine specimen of 
Beauty, which augmented the yield. A portion of the 
plants were from seed saved by Mr. Harlow. The vines 
were so large and so thickly covered the land that the 
first frosts did them but little injury, in fact, rather aided 
the ripening. The first delivery to the factory was made 
August 27th, but the heaviest yield was from October 
nth to 23rd. Thus it is seen that the held was not an 
early one, which could not be expected from the class of 
plants used. The conditions in this held are such that no 
comparisons can be drawn, but it is of interest by reason 
of results secured. 
The held that gave the most promise early in the 
season was one of about 14 acres, most of which was al¬ 
falfa sod. Many of the plants used were grown as fol¬ 
lows: The seed was put in hotbed the middle of Febru¬ 
ary and transplanted to a muslin covered bed with under 
heat (manure) in March. The tops were clipped to make 
the plants stocky. They were set in open held about 
May 10th: strong and stocky with a splendid root system. 
Some of the plants from the original bed were also put 
on the alfalfa sod. These were also good plants with 
good root systems. On some cultivated land near by 
some of the late plants were set; small, weak plants com¬ 
pared with the others. Owing to the scarcity of water, 
this held could not get the desired attention. It was in 
an exposed location and a severe wind about July 20th, 
did it much damage. At this time all of the plants on 
the alfalfa sod were large and thrifty and appeared to be 
well set with fruit. The late plants were small and no 
fruit had set. On August 16th I took particular note of 
the amount of fruit on the transplanted vines and those 
not transplanted, both on alfalfa sod. It was estimated 
the former were supporting nearly twice as much fruit as 
the latter. Ripe tomatoes were picked from this field 
August 1st. About the 16th of the month from 150 to 200 
lbs. was being picked every other day. Delivery to a 
factory could have commenced by August 20th. As heavy 
