TOMATO 



TOMATO 



181!) 



■either way. This system is seldom used in American 

 commercial Tomato growing, however. 



The soil should be much like that which is adapted to 

 the growing of Tomatoes out of doors. It should be 

 well enriched with old short manure and also with some 

 commercial fertilizer which is relatively rich in the 

 mineral elements. Care should be exercised that the 

 soil is not secured from a Tomato field, for in that case 

 diseases are likely to be brought into the house. Every 

 effort should be employed to cause the plants to grow 

 continuously. Plants 

 that become root-bound 

 or yellow and pinched 

 cannot be expected to 

 give good results. 



Some bottom - heat 

 should be applied. If 

 the soil is as shallow 

 as 4 inches, care should 

 be taken that pipes are 

 not too close to the bot- 

 tom of the bench or 

 that the heat is not too 

 great. From 5 to 6 

 inches is a better depth 

 for soil on Tomato 

 benches, and the pipes 

 for carrying steam 

 should be several 

 inches beneath the bot- 

 tom. The temperature 

 of the house at night 

 should not fall below 

 G0°, although a lower 

 temperature than this, 

 providing the house is 

 dry and the plants are 

 not growing very rap- 

 idly, may result in no 

 appreciable harm. It 

 is better, however, to 

 maintain a temperature 

 of 65° at night. The 

 day temperature 

 should run from 75 to 

 £0°. The house should 

 have an abundance of 

 light and should be 

 high enough only to 

 allow the plants to 

 have free head-room. 



The Tomato plant is 

 very likely to grow too 

 rapidly when it is 

 given too much water 

 and the temperature is 

 too high. This is par- 

 ticularly true in the 

 dull cloudy days of 

 midwinter. The plant 

 then fills with mois- 

 ture, becomes soft and 

 flabby and is likely to 

 develop the oedema, or 

 dropsy. This disease 

 manifests itself in 

 brown elevations on 

 the stems and in the 

 curling of the leaves. 



When a plant is once seriously affected it is worthless. 

 The preventive is to keep the houses well ventilated 

 and relatively dry in spells of dark weather. This cau- 

 tion applies particularly to the duller and damper parts 

 of the house. 



The Tomato flower needs hand-pollination to enable it 

 to set fruit. The pollen will ordinarily discharge readily 

 if the flower is jarred quickly at midday when the sun 

 is shining and the house is dry. When the flowers are 

 ready for pollination a bright day should be looked for 

 and the house should not be watered that morning. The 

 pollen is jarred into a spoon or a w T atch-glass, and into 

 this pollen the protruding stigma of the flowers is 

 rubbed. It is necessary to apply an abundance of pol- 



2526. Sculptures from a Theban tomb " of the 18th or the begin- 

 ning of the 19th dynasty." 



From Daubeny's " Lectures on Roman Husbandry." "The plough 

 itself is nothing more than a modification of the hoe, which was first 

 dragged along the ground by manual labor, before the force of oxen 

 was substituted." (See Tools, page 1820.) 



len in order to secure large and well-formed fruits. 

 The pollinating should be done freely and with great 

 thoroughness, as upon this operation depends the 

 chance of securing a full and good crop. One can rarely 

 expect to secure from a whole house an average of more 

 than 3 to 4 pounds of fruit to a single plant for the win- 

 ter crop when the plants are trained to a single stem. 

 Similar plants fruited in April or May, however, may 

 produce considerably more than this. As soon as the 

 fruit clusters begin to get heavy, they should be sup- 

 ported by cords se- 

 cured to the main stem 

 (Fig. 2525). 



Many varieties of 

 Tomatoes force with 

 ease. There are few 

 which seem to be spe- 

 cial forcing varieties. 

 Usually a Tomato of 

 medium rather than of 

 large size and one that 

 is rounded and with 

 few creases or angles 

 is to be preferred. The 

 varieties of Tomatoes 

 that are in favor for 

 forcing are constantly 

 changing and it is not 

 advisable to give a list 

 here. 



The Tomato is beset 

 by several difficulties 

 when grown under 

 glass. One of the most 

 serious is the root-gall, 

 which is due to a nem- 

 atode worm. In the 

 northern states where 

 the soil may be frozen 

 there should be little 

 difficulty with this 

 pest. After the crop 

 is off in early summer 

 all the soil should be 

 removed from the 

 benches and the boards 

 should be thoroughly 

 washed with lye. The 

 new soil should be such 

 as has been thoroughly 

 frozen. The practice 

 of mixing old forcing- 

 house soil with the new 

 soil is very likely to 

 perpetuate any root- 

 gall difficulty that may 

 have been introduced 

 into the house. When 

 once plants are affected 

 with the root-gall they 

 cannot be saved. The 

 Tomato rust, which is 

 characterized by fun- 

 gous spore-patches on 

 the under sides of the 

 leaves, may be held in 

 check by spraying with 

 Bordeaux mixture or 

 other fungicide. There 

 are several forms of blight which are apparently bacterial 

 troubles. These seem to follow unsanitary conditions of 

 the house, as too close temperature, too little light, too 

 much moisture at the root, and the like. They are 

 characterized by various degrees of curling and black- 

 ening of the foliage and young growth. There is no 

 remedy. Infected plants should be destroyed and, as a 

 safeguard, the soil in which they grow should not be 

 used again in the house. The rot of the fruit is often 

 serious in Tomato houses. The cause of the trouble is 

 not definitely known. After the rot has proceeded to a 

 certain stage, filamentous fungi develop, and these 

 were formerly considered to be the cause of the trouble. 

 The only remedy so far known for rot in houses is to 



