WHERE THE PLANTS ARE TO BE GROWN. E57 
ond lot grew much more slowly than the first one. This 
is because the plants were growing in the short and dull 
days of midwinter. Market growers like to sow seeds or 
take cuttings in August for the holiday crop. The second 
crop is ready to go on the benches early in January. A 
commercial grower in Ontario informs me that when he 
sows seeds the middle of January he expects to put the 
plants on the benches on the first of April and to make 
the first picking the 20th of May. 
Beds, benches and boxes. — There are various methods 
of growing house tomatoes. Much depends upon the 
height of house and arrangement of benches and heating 
apparatus. They may be planted in the ground or floor 
of the house, but this is not advisable, as it does not allow 
of the application of bottom heat, and the plants grow 
slowly ; and it is frequently an advantage to shift the 
plants somewhat during subsequent treatment. They re- 
quire brisk bottom heat, and it is necessary, therefore, to 
place them upon benches. 
The plants may be grown in shallow beds upon the 
benches, or in boxes or pots. Many persons prefer to 
grow tomatoes in 18-inch-square boxes. Fig. 49 (page 155) 
shows the arrangement of such a tomato house. The re- 
turn pipes lie close upon the ground, and are covered with 
a low platform or bench, made of 3-inch slats with inch 
spaces between them. The boxes are placed to inches 
or a foot apart, and four plants are set in each of those 
which are 18-inches square and a foot deep. A plant, 
therefore, occupies about 1% square feet of floor space. 
We have grown them in to-inch-square boxes, and also 
in Io-inch pots, but these dry out so quickly that we do 
not like them. One or two narrow cracks are left in the 
bottom. A good layer of potsherds or clinkers is placed 
in the bottom for drainage, and the box is then filled 
two-thirds full of soil. When the fruit begins to set, the 
box is nearly filled with rich soil and manure. The ob- 
ject of not filling the box at first is to confine the roots 
