IO8 . TOMATO CULTURE 



larger (juantities, but when one of the most success- 

 ful growers of that locality, because of change of oc- 

 cupation, offered seed selected by him for his own 

 use for sale at auction, it brought $3 an ounce. 

 This price was paid because of the confidence of the 

 bidders that the seed could be depended upon to pro- 

 duce plants of the exact type wanted for their con- 

 ditions; and I was assured that the use of this high- 

 priced seed actually added very largely to the profits 

 from every field in that vicinity in which it was used, 

 but the use of some of the same lot of seed by planters 

 in Florida resulted in financial loss because the type 

 of plant produced was not suited to their conditions 

 and requirements. 



A wise answer can only be given after a study of 

 each case, and no one can do this so well as the 

 planter himself. He should know, as no one else can 

 know, his own conditions and requirements, and should 

 be able to form very exact ideas of just what he wants, 

 and the doing so is, in my opinion, one of the most 

 important requisites for satisfactory tomato growing. 

 I also believe that it is as impossible for a man to 

 answer offhand the question, "What is the best va- 

 riety of tomato?" as for a wise physician to answer 

 the queston, "What is the best medicine ?" 



Varietal names and descriptions mean something 

 quite different in the case of plants like the tomato, 

 which are propagated by seed, from what they do with 

 plants like the apple and strawberry, which are prop- 

 agated by division. In the latter case all the plants 

 of the variety are but parts of the primal origination, 

 and so are alike. A description is simply a more or 



