42 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY [1914-15 



still in the ground, and they should be allowed to stand 

 three weeks after freezing. It was wise, he declared, to 

 cover them with an old bag, and not uncover them until 

 the first of March, if planted in early February. 



''If they do not thaw out until they reach the sunlight 

 it hardens them and helps the plant," he said. He con- 

 sidered the Copenhagen the best kind of cabbage. 



''My pet crop is tomatoes," he said, "and I can make 

 more mone}^ on an acre than on any other vegetable. For 

 the tomato we plant the seeds in February and set them 

 out February 15, in hothouses for market gardeners' use. 

 They are transplanted four times, never less, and set out 

 about May 1 in paper pots. 



''These we set on new^spapers, wdth two rows of boards 

 to back them. We fertilize for tomatoes as heavy as we 

 can. Potash is what colors vegetables in growing. Picking 

 is an important thing after growing. We pick the tomatoes 

 when one-day green, or when they begin to show the slight- 

 est signs of changing color, and put them in the packing 

 shed and sort them over. 



"We use as much pains in sorting them as in apples. 

 We sell every one of the three classes and do not waste any 

 of them. I have the best success in packing tomatoes in a 

 peach crate." 



Mr. Tinker then spoke of conditions regarding the market 

 gardeners in Rhode Island, and told of the time when a 

 license was demanded to sell goods, and it cost us ninety 

 cents a square foot to stand to sell goods. 



"Well," said Mr. Tinker, "about 175 of us market 

 gardeners got together and bought a space of land a little 

 from the city and divided it into stalls and it cost us less 

 than ever and we sold more goods. The scheme worked out 

 and now the city wants to buy the land from us. We are 

 not going to sell unless a municipal market is started, and 

 have a superintendent to take charge of it. 



