804 



HORTICULTURE 



December 9, 1911 



While on the subject of pests, an- 

 other matter which needs the greatest 

 attention is the growing of tomatoes, 

 and the sale of those which are sim- 

 ply masses of blight, and if the sani- 

 tary authorities took one-quarter of 

 the trouble to control the sale of dis- 

 eased and blighted tomatoes that they 

 do to see that ice creams are pure, a 

 great deal of illness would be saved. 

 Quite ninety per cent, of the tomatoes 

 sold in Boston and other markets, 

 would in England be condemned by 

 the market inspectors, as unfit for 

 human food. Starting from where 

 they have come off the stem, they are 

 mostly cracked, and each crack is full 

 of the fungus from the diseases 

 known as black stripe and black spot, 

 while the whole fruit is often covered 

 with yellow patches, which under the 

 skin extends almost like a blister, and 

 is known as spodium, another poison- 

 ous disease. Besides this one finds 

 ilomatoes exposed for sale which are 

 •soft and flabby to the hand— this is 

 .known as sleep disease, and the fruit 

 should be destroyed, not eaten. The 

 whole method of growing tomatoes in 

 America is incorre'ct and should be un- 

 dertaken in a scientific manner which 

 would be vastly more profitable to the 

 grower than it is at present. In the 

 first place, no tomato-house should be 

 more than eight feet high at the eaves, 

 and from fifteen to seventeen feet at 

 the ridge. The sides and ends should 

 be glass. The ventilators should be at 

 the side as well as the roof, the roof 

 tntilators being alternately right and 

 t throughout the length of the 

 jse. If it is found impossible to re- 

 new the soil in the house each year, 

 the soil should be thoroughly w-atered 

 vrith a strong solution of caustic soda 

 an.d water, and the inside structure of 

 the house should be thoroughly syr- 

 Ingi d with the same solution, and 

 thoroughly scrubbed with soft soap 

 and hot water. The house should 

 then be left for a fortnight until it is 

 time to prick in the seedling plants, 

 but before doing this it is imperative 

 that the soil in the house should be 

 thoroughly well watered with hose 

 pipe, so as to wash down deep into 

 the soil the caustic soda with which 

 It had been watered a fortnight pre- 

 viously. As regards the management 

 ol the seed; no advantage is gained, in 

 fact it is very dangerous to grow from 

 one's own seed, or to grow two years 

 running the same variety. 



The variety selected should be one 

 that produces fruit which weighs from 

 five to six tomatoes to the pound. The 

 seed should be planted in seed pans 

 or trays, the soil having been previous- 

 ly sterilized at a heat of about 250 

 degrees, which will kill all living par- 

 asites and destroy any eggs that might 

 hatch out. This gives the seed a 

 chance from the first, each seed should 

 be planted by hand, an inch apart, and 

 not sown broadcast, like mustard and 

 cress. This method enables the gar- 

 dener, when the time of transplanting 

 comes, to lift each plant without dis- 

 turbing the root. If the grower has 

 not absoluti Ij new- thumb pots to 



plant in, fresh from the kiln, he should 

 string his thumb pots on wire, in lots 

 of one hundred and put them for ten 

 minutes into boiling caustic water, 

 the crocks for the bottoms being simi- 

 larly treated. If this is not done, no 

 good results can be obtained. Only 

 sterilized soil should be used in trans- 

 planting from seed boxes to thumb 

 pots and if some wood charcoal, say 

 25 per cent, can be mixed with the soil, 

 it will enormously repay the grower. 

 Seedlings treated in this way are ab- 

 solutely free from club root, eelworm 

 and thrip. 



When the seedlings are from four 

 to five inches high they should be 

 taken to a house which has been pre- 

 pared as above and planted in double 

 rows, each plant being fifteen inches 

 apart in the rows, and the second row 

 should be twelve inches from the first, 

 the plants in the two rows being al- 

 ternate. The interval between the 

 double row and the next should be 

 from one yard to one and one-fourth 

 yards. This will give the plants plen- 

 ty of air, and will leave sufficient 

 space for the grower to move about 

 freely without damaging the plants 

 when gathering.- If it is desirable to 

 use bamboo stakes to which to train 

 the plants, they should be put in the 

 same day as the seedlings; if, how- 

 ever, it is decided to use string, this 

 can be done as the plant requires sup- 

 port. There is only one method of 

 growing tomatoes successfully, and 

 that is on a single lead or stem. They 

 should be side-shooted from the very 

 beginning and no side shoot should be 

 left on the ground, when it has been 

 taken off. The gardeners should wear 

 aprons with pockets, into which to put 

 them, or else carry baskets, but to 

 leave them on the ground is fatal as 

 it sets up blight and disease. Top air 

 should be given on every available oc- 

 casion, and no watering should ever 

 be done after nine o'clock in the 

 morning. Should the plants flag from 

 excessive heat the roof and sides 

 should be sprayed on the outside with 

 thin lime wash, and all possible doors 

 and ventilators stould be opened. Un- 

 less the weather is extremely, cold, top 

 air should be given in moderation at 

 night. As soon as any plant reaches 

 six feet in height it should be stopped 

 by nipping out the centre top. In ty- 

 ing up tomato plants care should be 

 taken to have the raffia tight around 

 the support, so that it cannot slip, and 

 then a loop round the stem with plenty 

 of play, so as to allow room for the 

 stem to swell. If the bottom trusses 

 are too thickly fruited, it is. advisable 

 to thin the fruit to six on a truss. 



All trusses should be held up with 

 raffia, or their own weight may make 

 them snap off at the shoulder. They 

 should never be tied to the growing 

 stem, but to the support. The best 

 method of feeding tomato plants is as 

 follows: Boil in a copper, or cooker, 

 cow dung with a mixture of soot and 

 a small quantity of pei manganate of 

 potash, say one pound to 100 gallons of 

 cow dung; dilute this mixture with 

 water as you use it, in the proportion 

 of one gallon of mixture to ten of 

 water, and water the plants, only at 



the root, twice a week. In watering 

 plants in a greenhouse, never water 

 the foliage under any conditions. If 

 any signs of blight, such as yellow 

 spodium, black stripe or rotting steins, 

 is noticed, or a plant sickening from 

 some unaccountable cause, which ife 

 sleepy disease, the only thing to do is 

 to carefully remove the plant "as soon 

 as it is noticed and to bum it, as the 

 chances against its recovery are very 

 small, and these diseases spread from 

 plant to plant very rapidly; the place 

 from which the plant has been taken 

 should have the soil dug out and 

 taken right away to the sterilizer and 

 fresh soil and a fresh plant should b£ 

 brought into the house to take thp 

 place of the plant which has been re- 

 moved. After the six bottom trusseb 

 on each plant have been gathered, on£ 

 side shoot on each plant should be al- 

 lowed to grow and not be removeq, 

 and by the time it has .reached foujr 

 feet all the trusses on the main leaa 

 should have ripened and beeu taken 

 off. The old stem should then be est 

 down to the point from which the new 

 lead starts and the new stem tied into 

 place. W : hen.the new' ".lead has from 

 four to five, trusses set it is time to 

 take out the top, which will make it 

 throw out larger fruit. It is an unwise 

 plan to defoliate in the first and sec- 

 ond leads until the fruit is set; then 

 the foliage should be reduced one T 

 half, and as the fruit ripens tire 

 leaves should be reduced to two leaves 

 on each leaf shoot. If during the 

 growing the roots of the plants show 

 above the ground, fresh soil should be 

 brought into the house to cover them 

 and they should be banked up. No fall-, 

 en fruit should ever be allowed to re-; 

 main on the ground, but should be 

 taken away and burned, and no weeds, 

 should ever be allowed in a tomato; 

 house. If only growers would take, 

 the precautions mentioned above. we> 

 should see none of the diseased fruit 

 that we see at the present time. As; 

 regards the cost of this method, it has; 

 been proved over and over again that' 

 this is the only way to make tomatoes': 

 pay: Take, for instance, a house; 

 which will hold 4000 plants, planted as; 

 above. This house will require twoj 

 men and four boys (say) to look after- 

 it, and they could iiroduce from each., 

 plant ten trusses, each weighing' 

 from one to two pounds. Their duties 

 would be, first, each morning toj 

 water, then to gather all ripe fruit and- 

 take them to the grading-house,. 

 where they will be sorted by women', 

 or boys under supervision; their next) 

 duty would be to thoroughly go- 

 through every row and carefully side- 

 shoot each plant. This work should 

 all be completed by mid-day, and then 

 these men and boys would be avail-; 

 able for other work about the nur- 

 sery. By this method of intense cul- 

 tivation each plant should produce, 

 twenty pounds of really good, sound 

 fruit, so that a house with 4000 plants 

 should produce S0.000 pounds (or forty. 

 tons of tomatoes. This should be 

 a very paying indust y and well 

 worth the attention of mar et-growers. 

 G. A. Jackson Burton, in Boston Tfani 

 script. l 



