HORTICULTURE 265 



are to be planted in regular succession. Peas do not 

 needjnuch. manure and do best in a light, warm soil. 



Tomatoes. There is no vegetable grown that is more 

 largely used than the tomato. Whether fresh or canned 

 it is a staple article of food. 



By careful selection and breeding, the fruit of the 

 tomato has, in recent years, been very much improved. 

 There are now a great many varieties that produce per- 

 fectly smooth and solid fruit, and the grower can hardly 

 go amiss in his selection of seeds. 



Early tomatoes are started in the greenhouse or in the 

 hotbed about ten weeks before the time for setting the 

 plants in the open ground. They are transplanted to 

 cold frames as soon as they are large enough to handle. 

 This is done to harden the plants and to give them room 

 to grow strong and stout before the final transplanting. 



In kitchen gardens, they are planted in rows four feet 

 apart with the plants two feet apart in the rows. They 

 are generally trained to stakes with but one stalk to the 

 stake. When, however, there is plenty of space, the plants 

 are allowed to grow at will and to tumble on the ground. 

 In this way they bear large crops. During the winter 

 the markets are supplied with tomatoes either from tropi- 

 cal sections or from hothouses. As those grown in the 

 hothouses are superior in flavor to those shipped from 

 Florida and the West Indies, great quantities are grown 

 in this way and command good prices. 



In the South, the bacterial blight, which attacks the 

 plants of this family, is a serious drawback to tomato cul- 

 ture. The only way to escape this disease is to avoid 

 planting tomatoes on land in which egg plants, tomatoes, 



