PREPARATION OF THE SOIL 47 



made fine, friable and uniform in condition, to the 

 greatest depth possible. 



One of the most successful growers has said that 

 if he could afford to spend but two days' time on a 

 patch of tomatoes he would use a day and a half of 

 the two days in fitting the ground before he set the 

 plants. It is my opinion that any working of the 

 ground that serves to get it into better mechanical 

 condition, if done economically, will not only increase 

 the yield, but to such an extent as to lower the cost a 

 bushel. T. B. Terry's teaching of the necessity for 

 working and re-working the soil, if one would have 

 the largest crops of potatoes of the best quality, is 

 even more applicable to the culture of tomatoes. 



Home garden. — Here there is no excuse for setting 

 plants in hard, lumpy soil. It should be worked and 

 re-worked, not simply once or twice, but once or twice 

 after it has been thoroughly worked. In short, the 

 tomato bed should be made as friable as it is possible 

 to make it and to as great a depth as the character of 

 the subsoil will permit. 



Under glass. — I would strongly advise that soil for 

 tomatoes, whether it is to be used in solid beds or in 

 pots or boxes, be thoroughly sterilized by piling it not 

 over 15 inches deep or wide over iron pipes perfo- 

 rated with two lines of holes about one-sixteenth inch 

 in diameter and 2 inches apart and filled with steam 

 for at least a half hour. It can be sterilized, but far less 

 effectively, by thorough wetting with boiling water. 

 It should always be well stirred and aired before the 

 plants are set in it. 



Starting plants. — From about the latitude of New 



