2G2 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Stocky and strong-. About the 1st of April they are transplanted 

 into cold frames of the size of the hot ones. The ground having 

 been spaded up the Avidth of the boxes, made fine, and if necessary 

 fertilized, eighty plants are placed in one frame and nicely culti- 

 vated. A vast amount of water is now required, and to supply it 

 an engine is set to pumping it. 



From May 7th to 15th is the final transplanting. First, the 

 ground is suitably moistened. Pieces of sheet iron are made into 

 short pipe, say four and a half inches in diameter at one end, and 

 four inches at the other, which are pressed down around the 

 plants, a little turn is given and the plants and soil come up 

 together without in the least disturbing the roots. They have 

 three hundred of these pipes, and two wagons are employed to 

 haul them to the field ; while one is going another is coming. The 

 X3ipes are placed in holes prepared and then withdrawn. The 

 tomatoes never droop in any kind of Aveather, nor is their growth 

 checked. All kinds of plants are removed in this way, and even 

 watermelons. The plan must be new" to most if not all our read- 

 ers, and its value is apparent. The plants are set four feet apart ; 

 the soil should be good and the cultivation thorough. 



Meanwhile, more seed successively is sown, ])oth in the hot-bed 

 beds and cold frames, and also in open ground for late crops, till 

 the 1st of June. 



The price for the earliest tomatoes starts at $G a bushel ; in a 

 few days they fall to $3, where they stay some time. When they 

 fcill to $1, no more are shipped, and canning commences. This is 

 an important part of the l)usiness. 



The building is 75x40, three stories high, of brick, with a base- 

 ment, the floor of which is cemented, and here is a well, also a 

 boiler and engine which cost $1,000. 



The tomatoes are brought to the door in wagons, usually in 

 bushel crates, made of strong boards, when they are dipped into 

 tanks of water made hot by steam from the boiler. There they 

 remain two minutes to loosen the skin. Then the crates are put 

 on trucks and carried to tallies where they are spread out and 

 peeled by women, who put them in pails. Kext they are poured 

 into an enameled iron kettle, whence women dip the mushy fruit 

 into cans. Then the cans are passed to workmen who solder them 

 tight, when they are taken to other vats which hold two layers of 

 one hundred cans each. They sink, steam is let on, and they boil 

 twentv-five minutes. A shorter time is not safe, because they 



