264 VEGETABLE FORCING 



For many years New England growers have used 

 raised benches for the forcing of tomatoes, and they are 

 now extensively employed in the Kennett Square section 

 of Pennsylvania. (See Fig. 85.) There is a disposition, 

 however, among growers in all sections to abandon the 

 use of benches and to plant in solid ground beds, except 

 when the crop is grown during the winter months. In 

 the Ohio and Irondequoit (N. Y.) vegetable-forcing dis- 

 tricts, ground beds are used almost exclusively, but the 

 tomato, in these sections, is forced mainly as a spring 

 crop. The great barrier to the use of benches in any 

 locality is their cost of construction and maintenance. 



Leaving the expense factor out of consideration, what 

 are the merits of benches as compared with ground beds 

 for the forcing of tomatoes? The tomato is a plant that 

 requires a large amount of heat. For this reason, the 

 plants grow more rapidly on benches with bottom heat 

 than they do in ground beds. There is a difference of 10 

 days to two weeks in the maturity of the crop, if grown 

 at midwinter. Even the spring crop will reach the ripen- 

 ing period quicker if there is bottom heat. On the other 

 hand, it is claimed by experienced growers that total 

 yields are greater from ground beds, so that earliness in 

 the ripening of fruit from the benched plants is not all 

 gain. It is more difficult to properly water the benches so 

 that the soil throughout is as moist as it should be, and 

 this objection is made by growers who prefer ground 

 beds. When the soil in the benches is watered by sub- 

 irrigation, it is an ideal system, especially during the dull 

 winter months. The advantages of benches provided 

 with sub-irrigation lines should be considered, and it is 

 possible that this method will be more generally used 

 when it is better understood. 



For the spring crop, ground beds are entirely satis- 

 factory. It is a simple matter to maintain proper soil 

 moisture conditions in them, and the plants are easily 



