226 The Profitable Culture of Vegetables. 



The general management of the two crops varies, however, 

 from the time the young plants begin to make growth in their 

 permanent quarters. Before planting, the centre of each plant 

 is cut above the second rough leaf. Two laterals are soon 

 formed, and these are led one towards the back and the other 

 towards the front of the frame. When six or eight leaves are 

 formed on the laterals they are stopped at the fourth leaf. 

 Sub-laterals break away and these are stopped at the third leaf. 



These sub-laterals bear female flowers, which may be distin- 

 guished from the male by the small fruit which is formed 

 beneath them. For the forced and early crops it will be 

 necessary to fertilize or " pollinate " the female blooms to 

 ensure the fruit developing properly.. This is best done about 

 noon of a clear bright day, when several bold female blooms 

 stand fully open. A well-developed male flower is taken and 

 after removing the outer petals its pollen-laden pistils are 

 inserted within the female flower and a slight turn gently 

 given. One male flower will serve for all the female flowers 

 on each plant. 



It is not necessary to fertilize the blooms on the main-crop 

 plants ; perfect fertilization takes place naturally owing to the 

 fact that pollen forms more readily under the influence of in- 

 creased sun-heat, and the free admission of air to which the 

 plants are subjected causes it to be freely distributed. 



When the female flowers appear, look over the plants care- 

 fully and remove any fruits which may have formed on either 

 of the main stems. When fruit has formed on the sub-laterals 

 to the size of a pigeon's egg select and retain the best-shaped 

 one on each side of the plant and remove all the others. No 

 more than two fruits to a plant should be retained at any time 

 and then only on those of mid-season crops ; on very early or 

 very late crops no more than one fruit to a plant should be 

 retained. With a sharp knife cut away all extra shoots which 

 may have formed, and as soon as the fruit has attained the size 

 of a large orange, stop the shoot which bears it at the first leaf 

 past the fruit. In relation to this continuous stopping of the 

 shoots there are two main objects in view which should be 

 constantly borne in mind. The first is that frequent stopping 

 is necessary in order to hasten the branching and consequent 



