FORCING TOMATOES 



MARKET gardeners have been giving 

 a good deal of attention in recent 

 years to growing vegetables under glass. 

 Canadian growers of tomatoes will find 

 much to interest them in bulletin Xo. 153 

 of the ( )hio Agricultural I^xperimeiit Sta- 

 tion, which has reached The Canadian 

 Horticulturist. The results will he found 

 in the following summary : 



Creenhouse t()niat(.)es, because of superior 

 (jualily, sell more readily at much higher 

 prices than the southern grown product on 

 the san.e market. 



Tomatoes grown in the spring have been 

 much more profitable than either lettuce or 

 cucumbers grown at the same season. 



The average yield has been over two 

 pounds ])er square foot and the average 

 ])rice 12 cents per i)()untl. Thus the returns 

 have been more than 20 cents per square 

 foot of bench space. 



Raised benches have the advantage over 

 ground l)eds in earlier ripening of fruit. 



Sub-irrigation or mulching is essential to 

 success in tomato forcing and it is advan- 

 tageous to combine "both methods. 



Ordinarily the tomato plants were set two 

 feet apart each way and trained to tw'o 

 stems, but recent tests seem to indicate that 

 plants set one foot apart each way and 

 trained to one stem will give a higher yield 

 anxl ripen earlier. 



For a spring and early summer crop the 

 seed should be sown in flats about the first 

 of December. The plants may be pricked 

 off into pots or flats, flats being more econo- 

 mical. The second and third shifts should 

 be made into pots. 



Under ordinary care plants from seed 

 sown December i will be ready to set in the 

 perman.ent beds about the middle of March, 

 and the fruit will begin to ripen from the 

 first to the middle of June. 



Stiff' wire, with a hook at the upper end 

 and made into the form of a cork-screw at 

 the lower end, screwed into the soil near the 



plant, is a ver}- satisfactory device to which 

 to attach the lower end of the twine that 

 serves as a supi)ort to the vines. 



Strong twine running frrjm the hook in 

 the cork-screw wire to a wire stretched di- 

 rectly over the row of plants and fastened 

 to the rafters, is a more satisfactory support 

 than stakes. 



In training plants to one stem all side 

 branches should be k(.']A pinched off. When 

 training to two stems the lowest strong 

 branch, which is usually the one just below 

 the first fruit cluster, should be left for the 

 secondary stem. All other branches or 

 suckers should be kept pinched off. 



Hand pollination is a necessary ojieration 

 in the successful forcing of tomatoes. A 

 wooden ladle and a spatula, with handles 

 about 18 inches in length, are very conven- 

 ient and helpful in doing this work. A dry 

 atmosphere facilitates pollination. 



The temperature of the house should be 

 about 60 degrees Fahr. at night and the day 

 temperature can be allowed to run up to 8q 

 degrees with artificial heat and to 100 de- 

 grees or more with sun heat. Xo wdiite- 

 wash is needed on the glass. 



The white fly, or plant house aleyrodes, 

 is a troublesome insect to combat in tomato 

 forcing. It can be controlled by fumiga- 

 tion W'ith hydrocyanic acid gas. 



Great care should always be exercised in 

 fumigating with this gas as it is very poi- 

 sonous and damage to plant and animal life 

 may result from the careless use of it. 



The leaf blight of the tomato fCladis- 

 povinin fnlvitin) Cooke, is very injurious if 

 permitted to gain a foothold early in the 

 growth of the plants. When present in a 

 mild form toward the close of the fruiting 

 period of the tomato, the damage resulting 

 is in part offset by the earlier ripening of 

 the crop. The Bordeaux mixture has 

 proven beneficial as a preventive of the 

 trouble. 



The dry or tip rot of the tomato becomes 



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