62 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



Tomato 

 Introduction 



Seasons for 

 Vegetables. 



and doing the work so quickly the peas are put through the process of 

 canning before they take on a dry or soiled appearance, which is often 

 the case when done by the slow system of hand shelling. But now the 

 large growers never pull a green pod, but by machinery pull up the vines 

 from the entire field when they are bearing the greatest number of devel- 

 oped pods, and then passing the vines through the machine break off the 

 pods, open them, and grade the peas. 



358. Q. In what year were tomatoes generally introduced as a vege- 

 table ? 



A. In this country tomatoes came into general use about 1845, and have 

 grown so rapidly in favor that no fruit or vegetable which can be named 

 has to such a rate increased in cultivation, the fruit, either natural or 

 canned, being used in all seasons — indeed, quite as much in Winter as in 

 Summer. 



Tomatoes were first packed in tin and glass by Mr. Harrison W. Crosby, 

 at Lafayette College, Pa., in the year 1848. He sold his product at fifty 

 cents a can ; now the price is seven cents — the result of the adoption of 

 steam machinery and intense application to the cheapening of costs. 



The canning of tomatoes has now reached enormous proportions. In 

 1894, 138,000,000 tins were put up, and the vegetable, as it is classed, is in 

 as common use during Winter as in Midsummer. 



359. Q. What are the seasons for various vegetables ? 



A. Formerly esculent vegetables could be divided into classes, as re- 

 spects seasons of use, and a period named covering the time of sale of 

 each class — as, for example, peas were only offered during May, June and 

 July, and so with cucumbers, tomatoes, egg plants and beans ; they all 

 had their seasons, and, when they were past, only those people who had 

 greenhouses could expect more until the return of the corresponding sea- 

 son of the following year. But now that is a condition of the past, for 

 Georgia and Florida, with their evergreen productiveness, have been able 

 to revolutionize the old conditions by sending to the Northern cities, even 

 when snowclad and icebound, the fruits of balmy Summer. 



360. Q. Where do the earliest new potatoes come from? 



A. Large quantities of new potatoes reach the markets of New York 

 and Philadelphia from Bermuda, Charleston, Savannah, Florida, and still 

 later, but before Northern crops mature, from Virginia and Maryland ; 

 and there is room for more, at paying prices, and they who present them 

 early, of good sorts and in good condition, need not apprehend a want of 

 customers. 

 SweetPotato. 361. Q. What is the relation of the white potato to the sweet potato ? 



A. The white potato has become a product of the world, cultivated 

 equally successfully from Chili to Alaska, from the Cape of Good Hope 

 to Iceland. The sweet potato, on the other hand, belongs to a distinct 

 botanical order ; in fact, if one is a potato the other is not. The tubers 

 of the white potato are underground branches, while the tubers of the 

 sweet potato are enlarged roots. The sweet potato is very sugary as well 



Potatoes. 



