HOW TO HUSTLE TOMATOES. 



63 



sulphur and ten pounds of salt in thirty gal- 

 ons of mixture as the proportions most like- 

 ly to g"ive satisfaction. This does not break 

 up and makes sufficient body to hold the 

 sulphur beneath it in contact with the bark. 



In California, the cooking is mostly done 

 by steam generated in furnaces for the pur- 

 pose and piped to barrels, which is much 

 more convenient and economical than cook- 

 ing in a kettle over the fire, as we are 

 obliged to do. 



In preparing the mixture we used a large 

 kettle, in which was placed about fifteen 

 gallons of water, to which the sulphur and 



salt were added and then brought to the 

 boiling point. Then the lime was thrown 

 in adding hot water from another kettle if 

 necessary to prevent burning. When the 

 lime was slacked, we added still more hot 

 water, boiled two to three hours, increased 

 the quantity to thirty gallons with hot water 

 and applied while hot. 



With suitable working appliances, the 

 preparation of this mixture is not so serious 

 an undertaking as it may appear. At no 

 time will the mixture work as well as when 

 perfectly fresh. 



HOW TO HUSTLE TOMATOES. 



fHE horticultural department of the Ohio 

 State University has had considerable 

 success in raising tomatoes, and Mr. 

 W. S. Turner thus describes in the Agri- 

 cultural Student the method used : 



Sow the seed (Livingston's Beauty) the 

 first week in February. Transplant first 

 week in March, two by three inches. Again 

 in cold frame to harden first week in April, 

 four by six inches. Plant in field as the 

 weather will permit fiom 5th to 15th of May, 

 settiug the plants with spade nearly to the 

 first blossom stalk. It does not injure them 

 in the least to be set slanting, four by two 

 feet. Mulch with coarse manure as you 

 plant. As soon as plants are well estab- 

 lished, prune all side branches off, leaving 

 blossom stalks and terminal bud. Make 

 a trellis for each row, using one iron piping 

 (obtained from old iron dealers), cut into 

 posts of six feet in length, drive in ground 

 two feet, sixty to seventy feet apart in rows. 



Stretch wire to each row, beginning at 

 further end from wire coil or spool and 

 wrapping once around each interweaving 

 post, about two or three mches from top to 

 end. Use a plastering lathe for a stake, 

 one to each plant ; drive into the soil lightly 

 and fasten to wire with double pointed tacks. 

 Continue pruning the plants and tying to 

 lathe as they grow ; twice below the wire 

 and once above it. Then let the plant 

 branch. 



Advantages of the method are : The fruit 

 ripens two or three weeks earlier than 

 ordinary plants of same age. From twenty 

 to forty per cent, larger than ordinary fruit. 

 A larger yield per acre by ten to twenty per 

 cent. Fruit easy to pick and always clean, 

 less liable to rot. 



Disadvantages are : It requires more 

 labor and more plants per acre. The fruit 

 has a tendency to be more irregular. 



