48 TOMATO CULTURE 



fork city southward, it is possible to secure large 

 yields from plants grown from seed sown in place in 

 the field, and one often sees volunteer plants which 

 have sprung up as weeds carrying as much or more 

 fruit than most carefully grown transplanted ones 

 beside them. In many sections tomatoes are grown 

 in large areas for canning factories, and as a farm 

 rather than a market garden crop, individual farmers 

 planting from lo to lOO acres ; and to start and trans- 

 plant to the field the 25,000 to 30,000 plants necessary 

 for a ten-acre field seems a great undertaking. To- 

 mato plants, however, when young, are of rather 

 weak and tender growth, and need more careful cul- 

 ture than can be readily given in the open field; and, 

 again, the demand of the market, even at the canning 

 factories, is for delivery of the crop earlier than it can 

 be produced by sowing the seed in the field. 



For these reasons it is almost the universal custom 

 of successful growers to use plants started under glass 

 or in seed-beds where conditions of heat and mois- 

 ture can be somewhat under control. I believe, how- 

 ever, that the failure to secure a maximum yield is 

 more often due to defective methods of starting, hand- 

 ling and setting the plants than to any other single 

 cause. In sections where tomatoes are largely grown 

 there are usually men who make a business of starting 

 plants and offering them for sale at prices running 

 from $1 or even as low as 40 cents, up to $8 and $10 

 a 1,000, according to their age and the way they are 

 grown ; but generally, it will be found more advan- 

 tageous for the planter to start his plants on or near 

 the field where they are to be grown. 



