TOMATO CULTURE. 31 



CHAPTER III. 

 When and How Far Apart shall we Plant? 



The ground having been properly prepared, and sufficient 

 available fertility arranged for, the next question that comes 

 up is, When shall we plant V No fixed rule can be laid down, 

 with any certainty that it will be the correct one for that 

 season, until we can tell beforehand just what the weather 

 will be. The plan which I stick to is, not to start the plow 

 until the ground is dry, and then plant as soon as I can get 

 ready. This rule followed out every year for my farm, and 

 the medium early potatoes I grow, gives, I think, the best 

 results. Of course, we miss it now and then, as we should 

 if we planted at any fixed time. But we think the average 

 results of early planting are best. I have had early-planted 

 potatoes injured by dry hot weather during the last two or 

 three weeks of their growth, while those planted a month 

 later lived through the dry time, and made a fine growth 

 during wet weather which followed the drouth, and yielded 

 double what the early-planted ones did. 



In 1884, a killing frost the 29th of May cut down into the 

 ground half of our potatoes that were planted early and 

 were up high enough to cultivate. The other half, planted 

 a few days later, escaped the frost and yielded much better. 

 But such a frost comes only once in perhaps ten years, and 

 I will take the chances on it, and plant early, regularly. 

 With favorable weather right after, potatoes may not be 

 injured greatly by being frozen down. They will come on 

 again any way, side sprouts coming up from the main stem. 

 A slight frost, that only blackens some leaves, is of little 

 consequence. We seldom get a frost that kills the stems 

 into the earth, as mentioned above. 



I have now given some of the objections to early planting. 



