968 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



other people. Their pretensions are palpably ab- 

 surd. Of course, some things they say are true; 

 but these truths are mere spangles on a garment of 

 falsehood. In its open attack on Christianity, infi- 

 delity has spent all its venom. Christianity has 

 proved itself to be of divine origin by its fruits; 

 and now Satan appears in another garb— that of a 

 hand-maid — begging to walk along with Christian- 

 ity. But of this be sure: At the last great day it 

 will be said, " Depart, I never knew you." W. P. 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT, AND HIS 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



That art on which a thousand millions of men are dependent 

 for their sustenance, and two hundred millions of men expend 

 their daily toll, must be the most important of all— the parent 

 and precursor of all other arts. In every country, then, and at 

 every period, the Investigation of the principles on which the 

 rational practice of this art is founded ought to have command- 

 ed the principal attention of the greatest minds 



James F. W. Johnston. 



TOMATOES AND TOMATO CULTURE. 



Editor Gleanings:— 



1 am becoming enthusiastic over tomato culture 

 in winter. We have only hard frosts here; no 

 snow nor much ice; I want the kinds of tomatoes 

 that bear the largest crop late. What kinds of to- 

 matoes stand freezing best, have the largest crop 

 of green tomatoes, late and strong grower, etc.? 

 Nice tomatoes in winter bring a handsome price 

 here as elsewhere, and no great protection is need- 

 ed. Does the tomato stand heavy fertilizing, like 

 strawberries and some kinds of vegetables? 



Fresno, Cal., Nov. 13, 1889. O. S. Davis. 



Friend D., I should say that you have 

 wonderful facilities for growing tomatoes in 

 the winter time. As they are a tender trop- 

 ical plant, however, you will need to protect 

 them, not only from frost, but they seem to 

 be a good deal injured when the thermome- 

 ter gets down to about 40 degrees. Most 

 plants, when the leaves are scorched by 

 frost, will recover, and grow about as well 

 as ever ; but the tomato seems to be hurt 

 clear down to its roots whenever even the 

 tops of the foliage are frosted. I do not 

 think there is very much difference in varie- 

 ties, so far as standing cold is concerned. 

 Perhaps in your locality a cold frame in a 

 protected situation will be all that is need- 

 ed. I am afraid, however, that you will 

 need a little heat during severe spells. If 

 the sash were so you could cover them with 

 mats or shutters, you might be able to get 

 along without any heat at all.— The Igno- 

 tum gives the largest crop of green toma- 

 toes of any thing we have ever had, and 

 they are of a nice shape as a rule. We had 

 wagon-loads on the ground, after frost this 

 season. Some of them are fit to use after 

 one or two or three pretty severe frosts. I 

 believe, however, that the little pear or plum 

 tomatoes will stand more freezing than any 

 other variety. Only yesterday, Nov. 27, 1 

 took up some from the ground that looked 

 to be sound and perfect, and they tasted 

 almost as well as if they had not been froz- 

 en at all ; yet I presume they have been 

 frozen as hard as bullets more than a dozen 

 times. In fact, we have had one freeze that 

 would hold up a horse, and yet these toma- 



toes were scarcely harmed. — My experience 

 is, that tomatoes. will not bear fertilizing 

 like strawberries. Of course, the manure 

 gives large quantities of fruit ; but they do 

 not ripen with us before frost, near as well 

 as when they are put on poor ground. To 

 get the earliest of almost any thing, you 

 need rather poor soil, on a hillside facing 

 the south. 



The October Bulletin of the Experiment 

 Station of Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., 

 is just at hand. This number is devoted 

 entirely to tomatoes. Prof. Bailey says, in 

 regard to the Ignotum : 



This variety, which originated with the writer, is 

 a sport from Eiformige Dauer, a German variety. 

 It appeared in a very large tomato test made in 

 1887. It was sent to several parties the following 

 year, and a plantation of 5U0 plants was made by 

 the writer. Last year it showed some tendency to 

 revert, but careful selection has been practiced, 

 and our plants this year, 422 in number, were all 

 true to type, with the exception of the variation 

 due to culture, as discussed on page 116 of this bul- 

 letin. The Ignotum is without question by far the 

 finest market tomato which we have ever grown. 

 Its particular points of superiority are large size, 

 regularity of shape, solidity, productiveness, and 

 uniformity throughout the season. It is the largest 

 and heaviest of the perfectly regular tomatoes, and 

 the most solid of any of the market sorts. The 

 pickings from our patches this year were usually 

 fit for market as they came from the vines; and the 

 last picking, October 10th, after a long season, was 

 scarcely inferior to the best picking of the season. 



On the last page of their bulletin we find 

 the following summary in regard to tomato 

 culture : 



1. Frequent transplanting of the young plant, 

 and good tillage, are necessary to best results to 

 tomato culture. 



2. Plants started under glass about ten weeks be- 

 fore transplanting into field gave fruits from a 

 week to ten days earlier than those started two or 

 three weeks later, while there was £ much greater 

 difference when the plants were started six weeks 

 later. Productiveness was greatly increased by the 

 early planting. 



3. Liberal and even heavy manuring, during the 

 present season, gave great increase in yield over no 

 fertilizing, although the common notion is quite to 

 the contrary. Heavy manuring does not appear, 

 therefore, to produce vine at the expense of fruit. 



4. The tests indicate that poor soil may tend to 

 render fruits more angular. 



5. Varieties of tomatoes run out, and ten years 

 may perhaps be considered the average life of a 

 variety. 



6. The particular points at present in demand in 

 tomatoes are these: Regularity in shape, solidity, 

 large size, productiveness of plant. 



7. The ideal tomato would probably conform 

 closely to the following scale of points: Vigor of 

 plant. 5; earliness 10; color of fruit, 5; solidity of 

 fruit, 20; shape of fruit, 20; size, 10; flavor, 5; cook- 

 ing qualities, 5; productiveness, 20. 



8. Solidity of fruit can not be accurately meas- 

 ured, either by weight or keeping qualities. 



9. Cooking qualities appear to be largely individ- 

 ual rather than varietal characteristics. 



10. The following varieties appear, from the sea- 

 son's work, to be among the best market tomatoes: 

 Ignotum. Beauty, Mikado, Perfection, Favorite, Po- 

 tato Leaf. 



11. The following recent introductions appear to 

 possess merits for market: Bay State, Atlantic, 

 Brandywine. Jubilee, Matchless, and perhaps Lor- 

 illard, Prelude, and Salzer. 



12. The following recent introductions are partic- 

 ularly valuable for amateur cultivation: Dwarf 

 Champion, Lorillard, Pt ach, Prelude. 



By the way, on the first page of the above 

 bulletin 1 found a little paragraph from the 

 pen of James F. W. Johnston, that pleased 

 me so much I have given it a permanent 

 place at the head or my talks on raising 

 plants. See head of this department. 



