200 A HOME VEGETABLE-GARDEN 



ordinary season in a central New York climate. 

 A sandy soil, well-drained, may be made suitable 

 by the incorporation of plenty of the proper fer- 

 tilizer; an abundance of humus and completely 

 rotted manure in the fall preparation; a quickly 

 available commercial fertilizer rich in potash in 

 the spring; and a bit of stimulating nitrate to 

 start growth at planting time. These are ideal 

 soil conditions for tomatoes. A strip of rich loam 

 at the sheltered base of the orchard slope has pro- 

 duced excellent crops of tomatoes; but, usually, 

 the frost has caught about half the crop before 

 they began to ripen. A sandy leaner strip on an 

 upland slope brought a complete harvest. The 

 plants did not make such lusty growth as those 

 over-fed in the rich strip of loam at the hill- 

 bottom; perhaps the tomatoes were not so large 

 and the yield was not so great; but the fruit was 

 more uniform and firmer in texture, and nearly 

 the entire crop ripened because of the lengthened 

 season. The frost that burned the plants in the 

 rich garden strip sheltered from the wind left the 

 breeze-swept upland strip untouched. 



Let us put some of the tomato plants on the up- 

 land slope and some on the rich loam in the 

 garden. The Earlianas would do especially well 

 in the garden strip and the tomatoes would be 

 handy for the first salads. Wherever the plants 

 are set, whatever the variety, tomatoes should 

 always be grown in hills, in the home garden, since 



