2o6 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



TOMATO CULTURE. 

 CHAPTER X. 



Training the Plants. 



When the plants have made a vigorous and bushy growth and are about 

 eighteen inches high it is time to train them. This work should be done just at 

 the right time. If delayed too long the wind may blow them all down in one 

 direction and then it will take double the work to train them, and the work can- 

 not be done as it should be. The way to train the plants is to separate the 

 branches carefully from each other and train them out close to the ground in 

 every direction. Just as the spokes of a wheel point in every direction from the 

 hub, so the aim should be to lay down every limb evenly and regularly from 

 the centre of the plant outward. If in separating the limbs some of them are 

 split down, no harm will be done unless the limbs are split more than two-thirds 

 off. Each limb should be pressed down as near the ground as they will go 

 without injury. I do this work with a three-tined pitch fork, but a new beginner 

 will have to use his hands considerably until he gets practice. 



I am aware that the above method of training is directly the reverse of the 

 methods practised by others. I will, therefore, briefly give my reasons for it. 



1. The limbs of the plants, being spread out singly close to the hot ground, 

 receive, when the sun shines, nearly or quite double the amount of heat they 

 otherwise would. 



2. The extra heat directly on the stems will check the flow of sap and 

 harden the wood. The result will be to cause the plant to fruit heavily at once. 



3. The vines being loaded promptly, the fruit will ripen early, and all the 

 strength of the plant will be thrown into the fruit, instead of producing an over- 

 growth of vine. 



4. The fruit can be gathered in half the time required when there are very 

 heavy vines in tangled bunches. 



5. The plants and fruit when laid down close to the ground escape the early 

 fall frosts much better than when they are tied to stakes or have boards or brush 

 under them. When the fruit lies close to the ground it is kept during cold 

 nights fully five degrees warmer than when it is kept ten or twelve inches above 

 the ground. 



The truth of this statement is easily tested as follows : On a cold night 

 when a light frost is imminent, take two thermometers that register alike, lay one 

 close and flat on the ground, put the other one on a board elevated a foot above 

 the ground ; look at them at daylight next morning and you will find the one 

 on the ground five to six degrees higher than the one on the board. The varia- 

 tion is caused by heat arising out of the ground. If the day previous has been 



