258 MANAGEMENT OF THE VARIOUS CROPS. 



The plants may be trained either to a single perpen- 

 dicular stem (being tied to a vertical cord), or two or 

 three stems or branches may be taken out and trained in 

 a fan-shaped fashion (either on diverging cords or on 

 wire trellises). For single-stem training (which is gen- 

 erally considered to be best), the plants may be set about 

 20 x 24 inches ; in the fan system, they are set from 2 to 

 3 feet each way (pages 160, 158). 



The heavy clusters of fruit are held up in slings of 

 raffia or soft cord. The plants must be kept open, and 

 free from all stray and blind growths (page 161). 



Especial care must be taken not to water too freely 

 in heavy soils, and particularly in dull weather. Over- 

 watered plants may develop dropsy, and they are liable 

 to many ills (pages 161, 177). 



Tomato flowers must be hand-pollinated. This opera- 

 tion is done in midday, when the sun is bright and the 

 house dry. The best method is to collect the pollen in a 

 spoon or ladle (Fig. 53) and to touch the end of the 

 stigma with the dust (page 162). 



The tomato fruit seems to be increased in size by a 

 very liberal application of pollen (Fig. 55), and it devel- 

 ops more symmetrically if care is taken to apply the 

 pollen equally over the entire stigmatic surface (page 163). 



In winter, single-stem tomatoes should average about 

 2 Ibs. of good fruit to the plant, and in spring and early 

 summer twice that, much (page 169). 



The most popular forcing tomato in this country is 

 Lorillard. Other good ones are Ignotum, Chemin Market, 

 Golden Queen, Volunteer. Almost any of the free-grow- 

 ing varieties force well (page 172). 



House tomatoes are generally sent to market in neat 

 splint baskets (like the Climax) holding from 4 to 10 Ibs. 

 of fruit. Each fruit should be wrapped in soft paper 

 (page 174). 



Animal parasites of the tomato are the aleyrodes scale 

 (kept in check by tobacco fumigation), mite (held at bay 



