52 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



TOMATO CULTURE. 



CHAPTER I. 

 Selecting and Saving Seed and Its Vitality. 



The first thing that is wanted for growing a fine crop of tomatoes is good 

 seed, saved in good condition. 



In selecting tomatoes for seed, observe carefully the following points : — 



I St. Select the earliest fruit. 



2nd. Select the largest fruit. 



3rd. Select the smoothest and best shaped specimens. With reference to 

 shape, I would say that for market purposes a round or globular shape is not to 

 be desired. The reason being that when carried or shipped to a distant market, 

 their round shape causes their weight to be concentrated on a very small surface, 

 and consequently causes them to become too bruised and cracked. I consider 

 the best shape is a tomato nearly flat at the stem end, smooth and moderately 

 full at the blossom end, and in general nearly oval. 



4th. Select fruit from healthy, productive vines. By selecting from very 

 fruitful vines for a number of seasons you will largely increase the productive- 

 ness of the variety. 



5th. Dp not pick the fruit until very ripe. The fruit should remain on 

 the vines five or six days after all the green has disappeared. 



VITALITY OF THE SEED. 



The vitality of tomato seed has by most horticultural writers been estimated 

 to last three or four years. If the seed is well saved as directed, and kept from 

 damp air, it will be found to germinate satisfactorily after seven or eight years. 

 I once grew good plants from seed ten years old. Some of the same lot of seed 

 was tried the eleventh year, but failed to grow. I am quite sure that, even 

 when seed is -carefully selected, still where the same variety has been grown a 

 number of years in the same location and on the same soil, it deteriorates, or, 

 to use a common phrase, runs out. I have been in the habit for years, when I 

 have obtained a good new variety, suitable for my soil and adapted to my 

 wants for market and shipping purposes, to keep selected seed for seven or 

 eight years, so that, instead of having seed that had grown seven or eight crops, 

 I had seed that had produced only one crop from the original stock. Seed can 

 then be saved again and kept the same length of time and so on. The variety 

 may thus be kept a life time with little or no deterioration. Just here let me 

 say that as far as my experience and observation go, I have been led to believe 

 that seed five or six years of age produces plants that have a tendency to grow 

 less vine, and to fruit somewhat more freely than seed that is fresh. 



