EXPOSURE AND LOCATION 4I 



Previous crop and condition. — In field culture to- 

 matoes should not follow tomatoes or potatoes. Both 

 of these crops make use of large quantities of pot- 

 ash, and although a small part of that used by the 

 plants is taken from the field in the crop, they in- 

 evitably reduce the proportion of this element in the 

 soil — that is, in such condition as to be readily avail- 

 able for the succeeding crop. It is true that the 

 deficiency in potash may be supplied, but it is not so 

 easy to supply it in a condition in which it is possible 

 for the roots of the tomato to take it in. Unlike pota- 

 toes, tomatoes do not do well on new land, whether 

 it be newly cleared timber lands or new breaking of 

 prairie. Clover leaves the land in better condition for 

 tomatoes than any other of the commonly grown farm 

 crops, while for second choice I prefer one of peas, 

 beans, corn, or wheat in the order named. 



One of the most successful tomato growers I know 

 of, whose soil is a rich, dark clay loam, prepares for 

 the crop, as follows: \evy late in the fall or early 

 in the spring he gives a clover sod a heav}' dressing 

 of manure and plows it under. In the spring he pre- 

 pares the ground by frequent cultivation and plants 

 it w^ith early sweet corn or summer squash. At the 

 time of the last cultivation of these crops he sows clo- 

 ver seed, covering it with a cultivator having many 

 small teeth, and rarely fails to get a good stand and 

 a good growth of young clover before the ground 

 freezes. In the spring he plows this under, running 

 the plow as deep as possible and following in the fur- 

 row with a sub-soiler which stirs, but does not bring 

 the sub-soil to the surface. He then gives the field a 



