396 The Principles of Vegetable -Gardening 



a good quality. If the fruits have not reached their full 

 size, the whole plant maybe pulled with the fruits On 

 and hung in a barn or other dry place and the fruits will 

 abstract nourishment from the vine and sometimes com- 

 plete their ripening. 



Tomatoes are now grown on a very large scale for 

 canning factories. They are then a field crop, and are 

 given no greater care than corn. A rather light, warm 

 soil is chosen. Frame -grown plants are used and they 

 may be set with a transplanting machine. Thereafter 

 no special treatment is given- the crop except to keep 

 the land well tilled. 



Tomato plants are usually set 4-5 feet apart each way in rich 

 garden soil. In field conditions, they are usually set 3-4 feet. On 

 light and early lands they are sometimes planted 3x3 feet. From 

 1 ounce of seed, about 2,000 to 2,500 good plants should be 

 obtained. At 3x4 feet, an acre will require 3,630 plants. A large 

 yield is 12-16 tons to the acre; the average is much below this. 



Varieties quickly run out (see Essay 24, "Survival of the Un- 

 like"), and it is scarcely worth while to mention the particular 

 kinds in a book like this. Even though the Trophy name is still in 

 catalogues, it is very doubtful whether the variety as originally 

 known is now in existence. Large round "smooth" varieties 

 without angles or creases are now grown almost exclusively. 

 Fig. 126. 



" Most commercial growers [in the South] use cotton cloth for 

 covering coldframes, as it is much cheaper than glass, and is 

 much easier to handle in opening and closing the beds. Fig. 125. 

 Ordinary unbleached, double-width or ten-fourths wide sheeting 

 is used. One side is nailed fast to the back side of the bed or in 

 double beds to the ridge-pole, and the other is nailed between two 

 Ix 2-inch strips, thus making a square roller on which the cur- 

 tain is rolled up when it is wished to open the bed. By starting 

 with one short and one long piece, so as to break joints, such a 



