360 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



bed or greenhouse are transferred to the field they should be given 

 clean cultivation with implements which stir the surface of the soil 

 but do not produce ridges or furrows. When the plants are set in 

 check rows 4 feet apart each way it is possible in field culture to keep 

 the plantation almost free from weeds by the use of horse hoes. If, 

 however, the plants are set so that cultivation can be carried on only 

 in one direction, hand hoeing will be necessary to keep down weeds 

 between the plants in the row. Where land is not expensive, and 

 where labor costs heavily, the cost of producing a~crop of tomatoes 

 can be decidedly lessened by planting in check rows and carrying on 

 the cultivation by horsepower. 



The grower should bear in mind, however, that the object of 

 cultivation is not merely to kill weeds. The destruction of weeds is 

 an important factor and in itself sufficient to justify clean culture, 

 but the preservation of a soil mulch for the purpose of husbanding 

 the moisture of the soil during periods of drought is of even greater 

 value. With care in the choice of implements both results can be 

 attained with the same expenditure of labor. 



Harvesting and Marketing. The fruits should be gathered two 

 or three times a week if the tomato is grown as a truck crop. When 

 used for canning purposes the harvesting periods need not be quite 

 so close, and when the fruits are to be shipped some distance they 

 should be gathered as soon as partially colored, instead of allowing 

 them to become colored on the vine. The fruit of the tomato is vel- 

 vet green up to the time the ripening process begins, and at this 

 stage, if the products are to be shipped long distances, the fruits 

 should be harvested. For home markets, however, the fruits should 

 be allowed to ripen upon the plant. 



In harvesting, none except sound fruits of a similar stage of 

 maturity should be harvested and packed in any one receptacle. 

 Leaky fruits and deformed fruits should be rejected. In packing 

 tomatoes for the market, those that are symmetrical in form and uni- 

 form in size and of a like degree of ripeness should be selected for 

 filling any one receptacle. 



Varieties for the North. There are a large number of sorts of 

 tomatoes, each one possessing some points of merit or difference which 

 distinguish it from all others. These differences enable the intelli- 

 gent cultivator to select sorts for special purposes, as w r ell as for special 

 soils and climates. The varying demands of the markets and the 

 different soil and climatic conditions presented in the various sec- 

 tions of the United States where the tomato is grown can only be 

 satisfied by a variety list as variable as are the conditions. 



Early ripening sorts are frequently irregular in shape, have com- 

 paratively thin walls, large seed cavities, and numerous seeds. The 

 fruit is apt to color and ripen unevenly, remaining green around the 

 stem, or to contain a hard green core. Later-ripening sorts, while not 

 all superior to the others, have as a rule thicker and firmer walls, 

 smaller seed cavities, and few seeds. 



The most highly developed varieties now make few seeds and 

 ripen evenly. These characteristics of the fruits are important fac- 



