490 



THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. 



[Chap. V. 



Okra seed sliould not be planted till tlic ground has become ■warm in 

 spring, and may then be treated much like Indian-corn in all its cultivation, 

 and grOM's well in soil suitable for corn. 



559. Tomatoes. — The rapidity -with Avhich this vegetable has been brought 

 into almost universal use is M'ell-nigh beyond belief. It is quite within the 

 memory' of middle-aged people tiiat it was grown only because its fruit was 

 ornamental, and b}' many supposed to be poisonous. Its common name in New 

 England was " Love Apple," though no one loved it. Now there are not 

 many families that do not esteem tomatoes as much as any garden vegetable, 

 and gardeners are constantly making eftorts to produce new varieties of im- 

 proved quality. Let 'no one suppose he has got the best sort until he has 

 tried several others. There is more difference in the quality and value for 

 food of tomatoes than there is in potatoes. We will name a few of the best 

 "We have grown a very large yellow tomato, which we prefer ovci all others, 

 because it is less acid, and the meat appears to have more of the food prin- 

 ciple in it than any of the red ones, unless it is one called Fejee Island 

 Tomato, which we think identical with one called " Perfected," and said to 

 have been introduced by C. Edwards Lester. It is a very large red sort, 

 and very good eating, and a little finer grained than one called the Large 

 Mammoth lied. The poorest tomato in existence is the one almost univer- 

 sally grown for the New York market. It is of medium size, smooth, round- 

 ish, with a tough skin, and sour, hard meat, frequently very JioUow, partially 

 filled with seeds and sour water, and being generally gathered in a green 

 slate, is no more fit to eat than the vines it grows upon. It is grown be- 

 cause it bears transportation better than the good sorts, and it Avill sell to 

 people who do not know how to appreciate a good tomato. As a general 

 rule, to select good sorts of tomatoes for cultivation for family use, choose 

 those which grow uneven-shaped rather than smooth, such as you can pull 

 apart without cutting, the lobes separating M-ith a glistening fracture. If you 

 wish to have some ripen earlier than the large sorts, you may choose a round, 

 smooth, medium size, called Early Apple Tomato. For pickles and pre- 

 serves there is a sort known as pear or fig tomatoes, being about the size and 

 shape of figs. There is a small yellow sort, grown for preserving, and so is 

 the sort which grows about the size of potato-balls, and as round and smooth. 

 A distinct variety, called "Winter Cherries (see 675), grows with a husk 

 about the size of large cherries, and is much liked by some to eat out of 

 hand. Care must be taken to prevent the different sorts of tomatoes from 

 mixing, else, if you have a choice kind, you will be apt to lose it, as the in- 

 clination is to run down rather than up the scale of improvement. 



The cultivation is very simple. In warm latitudes they are self-propagat- 

 ing. In this latitude, where the family has no hot-bed, the seed should be 

 sown for early use in boxes oi; pots, in February and March. The seeds sown 

 in boxes, if kept in a warm room, in the light of a window, will grow healthy 

 plants, which, when two incJies high, may be pricked out and set single in 

 pots, and carefully nursed till all danger of frost is over, in some warm, 



