1816 



TOMATO 



TOMATO 



gross feeder, the plant demands a fairly good soil, light, 

 porous and well drained, and is generously responsive 

 to judicious fertilizing, though acutely sensitive to the 

 slightest variations of soil and climate. Underfertil- 

 ized it is unprofitable; too liberally manured, espe- 

 cially with nitrogenous matter, it runs to vine at the ex- 

 pense of fruit and is subject to excessive inroads from 

 bacterial and fungous diseases. Similar results follow 

 from wet seasons or too heavy soil, while drought or 

 insufficient nourishment cut short the harvest. To 

 steer a middle course between these extremes is diffi- 

 cult. It is, on the whole, safer to underfertilize than to 

 overfeed — to select a moderately dry, sandy loam, well 

 manured the last season, and with but a light applica- 

 tion of fertilizer, or none at all for the present crop- 

 to risk underproduction rather than invite overgrowth 

 of vine, fungous maladies, loss of foliage and decay 

 of fruit. 



The normal fertilizer formula approximates that for 

 the potato, though a smaller percentage of nitrogen 

 will suffice— say 3 per cent nitrogen, 9 per cent phos- 

 phoric acid and 7 per cent potash. This would be met 

 by a compound of : Nitrate of soda, 400 lbs. ; high 

 grade (14 per cent) superphosphate, 1,320 lbs.; muriate 

 (or sulfate) of potash, 280 lbs.; total, 2,000 lbs. This 

 may be used to the amount of 1,000 lbs. per acre with 

 safety on a well - selected soil if applied sufficiently 

 early in the season. Such an application should pro- 

 duce a yield of 300 bushels per acre in a normal season 

 with any of the better standard varieties. 



Varieties.— All things considered, the following short 

 list presents for the South the best of half a cen- 

 tury's effort in development: Crimson Cushion, Stone, 

 Pouderosa, Freedom, Acme, Trophy, Paragon and 

 Perfection. The medium-sized, smooth, round, red, 

 uniform, solid fruit represented by Stone and Acme, 

 and of which Crimson Cushion is perhaps the choicest 

 and most conspicuous example, presents an almost per- 

 fect type, of which one can ask little more than that its 

 present standard be permanently maintained. Yet local 

 experience and preference must ever differ with this as 

 with all other soil products. 



For slicing, Golden Queen or Yellow Acme is incom- 

 parable, but it is valueless for cooking by reason of the 

 muddy tint developed thereby. Fruit of the Ponderosa 

 type is too large, gross and frequently too unsymmetri- 

 cal for successful shipping; it finds a readier sale in 

 local markets. Extra earliness in maturity seems to be 

 more or less a chimera, little real difference appearing 

 (on careful test) between most varieties. Early ripen- 

 ing is rather a matter of soil, manipulation and local en- 

 vironment than a fixed habit. 



Color is apparently a secondary consideration, tastes 

 in this particular varying greatly. Some markets prefer 

 the crimson shade of the Acme type, while others de- 

 mand the purple tinge of the Mikado. 



Vigpr of growth, productiveness and shipping quality 

 seem the three most important requisites — size, even, 

 yielding to them in importance. Oversized fruit, in- 

 deed, is almost as serious a defect as undersized. The 

 following would probably represent the best scale for an 

 ideal Tomato at the South, though differing somewhat 

 from that generally recognized: 



Per cent 



Vigor (covering freedom from disease) 20 



Productiveness 16 



Shipping quality 14 



Shape 12 



Size 11 



Earliness 10 



Color 8 



Flavor 5 



Cooking quality 4 



100 



Cultivation.— Whether grown on a large or small 

 scale, the young plants are started under glass from 

 January to March, according to isotherm, and in about 

 30 days from the seed are ready for "pricking out" or 

 transplanting— to open ground in the lower latitudes, 

 farther north into boxes or "Neponset" pots. The lat- 

 ter, constructed of paper, admit of handling without 

 rupturing the root system when permanently trans- 

 planted some 30 days later. 



The land, when the business is conducted on a large 

 scale, may be prepared as for cotton by "laying off" 

 after breaking and fining, and then bedding on the fer- 

 tilizer drilled in continuous rows — though compost is 

 usually distributed "in the hill." For garden cultivation 

 the latter plan is strongly recommended, though broad- 

 casting is preferable for limited areas. A shovelful or 

 so of well-rotted stable manure to each hill, reinforced 

 by a top-dressing of superphosphate in early spring, 

 gives excellent results. 



Distance naturally varies with [character of soil- 

 sometimes with variety of Tomato — and depends, also, 

 on the mode of training. Where no supports are 

 used 6x4 ft. is not too great. When trellised with 3 ft. 

 posts, at intervals, and one strand of No. 12 wire, either 

 0x4 or 6x3 will do, and when trained to 5 ft. single 

 stakes, 5x3 ft. 



The crop should be rapidly worked through the sea- 

 son with either cultivators or "22-inch heel scrapes"— 

 at first in both directions, and afterwards, as the vines 

 spread, following the wide row only. Of course with 

 trellises cross-plowing is impossible. 



Under either system pinching back weak or inconse- 

 quent laterals is necessary. All lower laterals when 

 stake-training is employed must be pruned until a main 

 stem is established, which is trained spirally around 

 the stake and secured with raffia, after which laterals 

 are still shortened from time to time, as occasion re- 

 quires. This is an ideal, and also a practical system, 

 and though necessarily the most expensive, will gener- 

 ally justify its use by the results. With the trellis sys- 

 tem two or three stems are allowed to grow, although 

 the plant is sometimes restricted to one stem for " fancy " 

 results. When no support is used only the more stocky 

 and fungus-resisting varieties should be planted and 

 severely pruned while young, to form, as far as possible, 

 an upright, rigid growth. This is the most common 

 method and probably the most profitable also, when 

 land is cheap and the grower is not readily discouraged 

 by damp and decay and is vigorous and determined in 

 the use of the spray-pump. It is certainly the most 

 economical form of cultivation everywhere, at least to 

 outward appearance. 



Without his spray-cart and fungicide the tomato- 

 grower is lost— and knows it! Thesprayer has hence be- 

 come an invariable and indispensable adjunct to the truck 

 farm, by means of which most of the fungous and bac- 

 teroid affections of the plant may be, if not altogether 

 prevented, at least held in hand and damage reduced to 

 a minimum. But it must be kept going resolutely and 

 continuously from the first — the earlier sprayings to 

 consist of an admixture of 4 ounces Paris green to each 

 barrel of Bordeaux mixture to hold in check insect dep- 

 redators, later sprayings to be made with Bordeaux 

 only. 



Second Crop. — A peculiar advantage of the Tomato 

 over other transplanted truck crops is its ready dispo- 

 sition to grow from cuttings, thus obviating the neces- 

 sity for re-seeding for a second or fall crop, as with the 

 cabbage. The cuttings afforded by the pruned laterals 

 strike root vigorously, and thus afford a ready means 

 for filling vacancies in the plat immediately upon their 

 occurrence ; and, since the plants from cuttings begin to 

 fruit as soon as they start growth, a continuous succes- 

 sion may be obtained from early summer until the 

 plants are cut short by frost in the fall — an economic 

 consideration of vast importance. 



Marketing.— While no particular state or section of 

 the South altogether monopolizes the northern markets, 

 and many trucking centers from lower Texas and 

 Florida to Norfolk and Memphis successively forward 

 their shipments in greater or less quantity, the Florida 

 crop is probably the earliest, largest and best known, 

 though heavy shipments are made to western cities from 

 Louisiana and Mississippi, while the middle and eastern 

 states are supplied, after the Florida shipments have 

 ceased, by the truckers of Savannah, Charleston, Wil- 

 mington and Norfolk in turn. 



The methods of packing and shipment are as many 

 and as diverse as the local centers of production. The 

 Florida crop, dominating the very early market, is 

 usually shipped stark green, each fruit paper-wrapped 

 in the regular "six-basket carrier" used for Georgia 



