CHAPTER V 



Selection of Soil for Maximum Crop 



Large yields of tomatoes have been, and can be, 

 obtained from soils of varying composition, from a 

 gumbo prairie, a black marsh muck, or a stiff, tena- 

 cious clay, to one of light drifting sand, provided 

 other conditions, such as drainage, tilth and fertility 

 are favorable. The Connecticut experiment station 

 and others have secured good results from plants grown 

 under glass in a soil of sifted coal ashes and muck, 

 or even from coal ashes alone, the requisite plant food 

 being supplied in solution. But a maximum crop 

 could never, and a full one very seldom, be produced 

 on a soil, no matter what its composition, which could 

 not be, or was not put into and kept in a good state 

 of tilth, or on one which was poorly drained, sodden 

 or sour, or which was so leachy that it was impossible 

 to retain a fair supply of moisture and of plant food. 



Of the 10 largest yields of which I have personal 

 knowledge and which ran from 1,000 to 1,200 bushels 

 of fruit (acceptable for canning and at least two- 

 thirds of it of prime market quality) an acre, four 

 were grown on soils classed as clay loam, two on 

 heavy clay one of which was so heavy that clay for 

 making brick was subsequently taken from the very 

 spot which yielded the most and best fruit one on 

 what had been a black ash swamp, one on a sandy 

 muck, two on a sandy loam and one on a light sand 



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