The past year has witnessed further growth and new activities of the Tomato Genetics Cooperative. It is surprising and altogether gratifying to note the continual growth of membership. Scarcely a week passes without bringing correspondence of some kind or other concerning membership or other affairs of the TGC. In contrast to the 149 members enrolled a year ago, we have a membership of 171 as of December 31, 1954 including 51 members in 23 different countries.
Our finances also continue in a satisfactory condition. Membership assessments seem adequate to support the Report, and, although we do not have an impressive balance, special measures to provide an increase are not justified unless expenses in addition to those of the Report are anticipated. Our solvent status is partly due to the rather vigorous sale of back numbers. Thus, assessments from new members and sales of back numbers raised the balance from $27.50, the level after costs of Report No. 4 were paid, to $66.48. Assessments for the 1955-56 biennium already received raise the balance to the present level of $118.48. we normally anticipate a low balance in the even years since most biennial memberships terminate in those years, but we scarcely expected such rapid recovery. In the financial statement appearing on the last page of this report normal income received throughout the year is presented separately from assessments already received for the 1955-56 biennium in response to notices in the November newsletter.
The greater participation of members in exchange of information and stocks is another source of gratification to us. As the following pages reveal, a great deal of helpful material is being volunteered for mutual benefit. We would like to see even more participation in this important phase of TGC activities. The true cooperative spirit was manifest in communications during the year from several members who had discovered new mutants and inquired about proper selection of names and symbols so that duplication might not occur.
A meeting of the TGC was held at Gainesville on September 8, 1954. The agenda largely comprised discussion of additional activities that might be sponsored by the TGC in the future. As the accompanying minutes indicate, many worthwhile suggestions were made and discussion helped to crystallize ideas and attitudes. No aspect of the proceedings requires emphasis here except the need for more work and exchange of information on linkage. We do not advocate the building up of linkage groups just for their own sake or as a geneticist's bemused pastime, but as an indispensable tool for many additional genetic studies and as a possible aid in tomato breeding. Additional reasons for this attitude are given by Edgar Anderson in his supplements to the minutes. We would therefore like to encourage in every possible way the location of new genes and more accurate placement of those already located. Also as a measure to render our joint effort more efficient we stress the importance of early reports of the results of linkage tests whether or not they give positive evidence of any linkages.
An additional activity sponsored by the TGC during the year was preparation by the committees on nomenclature and gene list of a manuscript comprising their reports in TGC 4. The manuscript has been accepted by the Journal of Heredity and is now awaiting publication.
We report with regret the resignation of C. F. Andrus from the Coordinating Committee. The TGC has benefitted greatly from Andrus' active participation in committee activities. Acting on suggestions from the membership, we have appointed W. F. Barham to fill the vacancy thus created.
Three hundred copies of the present Report have been prepared.
We are indebted to the following people who helped extensively in preparing this Report. Dora Hunt, Martha Rick, Oscar Brauer, and Richard Carson carried out the many tasks necessary to preparing the covers and assembling the Report. Virginia Borelli typed the stencils.
Coordinating Committee
W. S. Barham C. M. Rick, Chairman
D. W. Barton Department of Vegetable Crops
A. B. Burdick University of California
L. Butler Davis, California