48G THE GARDENER. [Nov. 



demand appears only to be limited by the supply. Large quantities 

 are iaiported from France during the summer, but they are not of such 

 good quality as our home-grown fruit, and do not fetch such good 

 prices. 



We grow Tomatoes here rather extensively, there being a demand 

 for them in the house all the year round if they are to be had ; and an 

 account of the results of the culture of a few plants, and the return in 

 the shape of fruit which they have yielded, may interest your readers. 

 We usually have a supply of fruit all the season through, or nearly ; 

 but this season we had none from January to April — about the end 

 of the latter month ; and it is an account of the production of our plants 

 from that time till now, 6th October, that I propose to give. 



The earliest batch of plants was sown in January, and potted in 12- 

 inch pots firmly, and placed against the back-wall of one of the fruit- 

 houses. The second batch was sown in March, potted in 10-inch 

 pots, and placed in a similar position as soon as room could be found 

 for them. The two lots together amount to sixty plants, and occupy 

 a wall-space 55 feet long and about 12 feet high, being set in two rows, 

 one above the other. During the whole season we have supplied the 

 house demand from these plants, sending large quantities to London 

 twice a- week during the season ; but as these have only been entered 

 as " baskets " or " dishes," I cannot tell the weight, but it has been 

 very considerable. The last week in May we began disposing of 

 surplus fruit to a fruiterer in the nearest town, to whom, up to this 

 date, we have sold 413 lb. Up till 5th June we got Is. 6d. per lb. 

 for all we could send; from that date till 2d August, Is., and after- 

 wards 9d. and 6d., but the price will go up again soon. The total 

 amount received for the whole is £15, 7s. lid., and it will probably 

 reach ^20, for the plants are still growing and bearing heavily. We 

 usually grow the common red, which is the most productive we know. 

 The plants have been potted in rough loam and old mushroom-dung, 

 and have received plenty of strong liquid-manure every day. I sold 

 all the fruit to one man, and could not half nor quarter supply him. 

 We could have disposed of them by the ton in two or three towns 

 round about if we had had them, and they pay both the grower and 

 the retailer. In order to grow the Tomato profitably it must be 

 done well, like other things ; but what the plants need most are 

 abundance of light, a suitable temperature, and plenty of food. Very 

 little attention otherwise is needed. Bands of string are run along 

 the wall, to which the plants are tied, rough-and-ready fashion, and 

 they are allowed to grow as much as they will. In pots they do not 

 require much pruning. Planted out, I have had them more than 12 

 feet high, but they did not bear better than plants half that height in 

 pots, which take up just half the room. They do uncommonly well in 

 common wooden frames, but they should be heated, for the sake of 

 getting the plants forward in spring, and into a bearing state as soon 



