TOLMIEA 



TOMATO 



3353 



TOLMlfeA (named for Dr. Tolmie, surgeon of Hud- 

 son Bay Co.). Saxifragac&e. Herbaceous, glandular 

 pubescent, hardy: rhizome scaly: sts. simple: cauline 

 Ivs. alternate, radical petioled, cordate-incised-lobate; 

 stipules membranaceous: racemes terminal, slender, 

 simple: fls. rather secund, nodding, green; calyx-tube 

 elongate, funnelform-campanulate, 5-lobed; petals 5, 

 capillary; stamens 3; ovary narrowly oblong, 1-celled: 

 caps, exserted from the calyx, superior, 2-valved, 2- 

 beaked. One species. Borders and wild-garden. 



Menziesii, Torr. & Gray (Leptdxis Menziesii, Raf.). 

 Perennial herb, 1-2 ft. high, with slender creeping root- 

 stocks and some summer runners: Ivs. round-cordate, 

 more or less lobed and crenately toothed, slender- 

 stalked, all alternate, those of the st. 2-4 in number: 

 raceme ?4-lH ft. long: fls. and caps, nearly J^in. long, 

 greenish or tinged purple. Forests of Mendocino Co., 

 Calif., to Puget Sound. Prop, naturally by adven- 

 titious buds, produced at the apex of the petioles of the 

 radical Ivs. and rooting when these fall to the ground. 



WILHELM MILLER. 



TOLPIS (name unexplained). Comp6$itie. Herbs, 

 annual and perennial, allied to Crepis, with showy 

 3-ellow heads, suitable for the flower-garden or border, 

 but apparently not offered in this country; species 

 about 15, in the Medit. region, and the Canaries and 

 Azores. St. rarely somewhat woody: Ivs. mostly 

 radical or on lower part of st., entire, dentate or pinnati- 

 fid, the upper ones few and narrow: heads homogamous, 

 ligulate, the involucre campanulate with, narrow bracts 

 in several series; receptacle naked or pitted: achene 

 subterete, 6-8-ribbed, the pappus of 8-10 very slender 

 setae. T. barbata, Gaertn. (Crepis barbata, Linn.), 

 from S. Eu., is an erect branched annual with attrac- 

 tive yellow heads, the outer scales of involucre subulate: 

 Ivs. lanceolate, dentate, the upper ones near the fl.- 

 heads long-subulate: blooms from midsummer till 

 frost. B.M.35. 



TOLUIFERA: Myroxylon. The following species 

 now planted as a shade tree in S. Fla. was mentioned 

 under Myrqxylon. M. Pereirae, Klqtzsch (Toluifera 

 Pereirse, BailL). Tree: Ivs. uneven-pinnate ; Ifts. 6-9, 

 from 2-3 in. long, 14-16 lines broad, oblong, glabrous; 

 petiole 4*2 in. long, terete and sparsely puberulent: 

 pod 2^2-3 in. long. Cent. Amer. 



TOMATO. The plant Lycopersicum esculentum 

 (which see. page 1931, Vol. IV), grown extensively for 

 its edible fruit. 



The tomato is probably grown more extensively in 

 North America than elsewhere, and the varieties have 

 reached a high degree of perfection. The American 

 standard or ideal is a tomato that is nearly globular, 

 solid and "smooth" (that is, not wrinkled). (Fig. 3818.) 

 The flat angled and wrinkled tomatoes (Fig. 3819) are 

 now little grown in this country. These forms are little 

 adapted to canning, in which use enormous quantities 

 of tomatoes are employed, and they do not satisfy the 

 popular desire. The old-time pear, cherry, and plum 

 forms (Fig. 3820) are still grown for curiosity and also 

 for the making of pickles and preserves, but their field 

 culture is relatively not important. The currant tomato, 

 grown for ornament and curiosity, is considered to be 

 Lycopersicum pimpindlifolium. It sometimes hybridizes 

 with the common species (Figs. 2234, 2235, Vol. IV). 



The tomato requires a warm soil and climate, a 

 sunny open position, and also a long season.- The plants 

 are usually started in hotbeds or glass houses, being 

 transferred to the open as soon as settled weather 

 comes. They are usually set from 4 to 5 feet apart each 

 way and are allowed to grow as they will, finally cover- 

 ing the ground. For home use, however, the plants are 

 often trained, in order to forward their ripening and 

 to secure larger and better-colored fruits. The best 



method is to train to a single stem, supported by a 

 stake or perpendicular wire or cord (Fig. 3821); or 

 sometimes it is tied to the horizontal strands of a trellis. 

 This single-stem training requires close attention, and 

 if the time cannot be spared for it, the vines may be 

 allowed to lie on an inclined trellis or rack. This rack 

 training keeps the plants from the ground and thereby 

 allows the individual fruits to develop perfectly and 

 also checks the spread of the fruit-rot; but it usually 

 does not give such perfect fruits as the single-stem 

 training, since the number of fruits is limited in the 

 latter. Sometimes a serious difficulty in tomato-grow- 

 ing is a rot of the fruit. This seems to cause most dam- 

 age following close wet weather when the fruit is ripen- 

 ing. It is thought to be worst on plants that cover 

 the ground thickly with foliage and do not allow it to 

 become dry on the surface. Usually it does not seri- 

 ously lessen the crop beyond a few pickings; and if the 

 plants are brought into bearing early and are kept in 

 thrifty condition for subsequent bearing, the percen- 

 tage of total injury is greatly reduced. The tomato is 

 tender to frost. The green fruit remaining when frost 

 kills the plants may be ripened in tight drawers or 

 cupboards, if it is nearly or quite full grown. The 

 tomato is a short-lived perennial, but in cold climates 

 it is grown from seeds as an annual. It may be grown 

 from cuttings. ,. ]j. B. 



General culture of the tomato. 



The tomato plant comes from regions in South 

 America where the conditions of temperature and 

 moisture in its growing season are very constantly 

 favorable for its rapid growth and the ripening of a 

 large yield of fruit. Although it cannot be classed as a 

 tropical and hardly as a semi-tropical plant, it thrives 

 best in a day temperature of 65 to 85 F., makes very 

 slow growth in one below 40 F., and, unless hardened 

 by gradual exposure, will be killed by a short exposure 

 to a temperature of 32. It is a rapid-growing short- 

 lived plant and under favorable conditions will mature 

 its first fruit in ninety to one hundred and twenty 

 days from the sowing of the seed and continue in bear- 

 ing for fifty to ninety days, when it will generally die 

 of exhaustion, though its life may be prolonged (but 

 with lessened vigor) either by cuttings or layering. It 

 is emphatically a sun-loving plant and unobstructed 

 sunlight is essential for its most vigorous growth and 

 greatest fruitfulness. An attempt to grow tomatoes of 

 superior or even good quality in an orchard or at a 

 season when the sunlight is likely to be dimmed much 

 of the tune by clouds or mists is very likely to be 

 disappointing. 



The splendid color often seen in Italian-grown fruits 

 is due to cloudless skies rather than to superior varie- 

 ties or cultural methods. Under favorable conditions 

 the plant is a vigorous and rapid grower and capable of 

 maturing an enormous crop of fruit, but it requires for 

 even a fair yield very constantly favorable conditions, 

 and any check in its growth from cold or cloudy weather 

 or too deep and harsh cultivation, even if the plant 

 seems fully to recover, will surely materially lessen 

 the yield of fruit. Many cases have been seen in which 

 cultures within a few miles of each other and on similar 

 soil have matured crops differing greatly in quantity 

 and quality as a result of such difference in cultural 



Eactice as to bring one crop into the fruiting-stage in 

 tter condition, or at a time when the weather was 

 more favorable for a full setting of fruit. The plant, 

 however, is very tenacious of life and will often live 

 and produce some fruit under most unfavorable con- 

 ditions and many who have grown it for years do not 

 know of the amount of fruit a healthy tomato plant is 

 capable of producing. It is doubtful whether the aver- 

 age yield of all the cultures in the United States exceeds 

 6,000 pounds of marketable fruit to the acre. Yet every 



