Tomato 



desirable object can be indefinitely extended to meet a great public 

 demand. 



Almost every imaginable glass structure can be employed for 

 growing Tomatoes, from the small suburban greenhouse to the vast 

 span-roof, hundreds of feet in length, devoted to their culture in 

 Guernsey, and Jersey. And it is not essential that the crop should 

 be grown alone. Potatoes, French Beans, Strawberries, and Vines 

 may be forced in the same building, provided there be no obstruction 

 to light and air, nor any interference with the conditions which 

 experience has proved to be imperative for sustaining the plants in 

 vigorous health. For very early gathering there must be a service 

 of hot-water pipes, but as the spring advances it is easy to ripen fruit 

 in cool houses, and later on plants in borders will in ordinary seasons 

 yield an abundant return without artificial protection of any kind. 



Tomatoes can be propagated from cuttings, and for a winter 

 crop this method offers the advantages of quickness and certainty 

 of setting. The disadvantage is that the plants are less robust in 

 constitution than seedlings, and this is a serious addition to the 

 difficulties of winter culture. We therefore leave the system of 

 propagation by cuttings to those who need no advice from us. Seed 

 may be sown at almost any time of the year, but the most important 

 months are September, December, February, and March. In gardens 

 favourably situated in the South of England and furnished with 

 the most perfect appliances, seed is sown in all these months, and 

 in others also ; but in smaller gardens sowings are restricted to 

 February and March. Whenever a start is made sow thinly in pans 

 or boxes, and do not allow the seedlings to remain in them for an 

 unnecessary day. Immediately two or at most four leaves are formed 

 either prick off into other pans or boxes, or transfer singly to thumb 

 pots, and as a rule the pots will be found preferable. The soil for 

 these pans or pots should be stored in the greenhouse a few days in 

 advance of the transfer, so that the compost may acquire the proper 

 temperature and save the plants from an untimely check. In small 

 houses place the plants near the glass that they may remain short in 

 the joint, but on cold nights they must be taken down to avoid 

 injury from fluctuations of temperature. In large houses, where the 

 light is well diffused, there is no need to incur this trouble, for the 

 seedlings will do equally well on the ground level. In due time 

 shift into 48-size pots, from which they can go straight to borders, 

 or into a larger size if they are to be fruited in pots. About fourteen 

 weeks will be required to prepare the plants for borders in the winter 



