Tomatoes. 339 



Heavy soils, or any subjected to ordinary cultivation, should 

 be prepared by deep working during the autumn or winter, 

 so that the particles will become settled and compact before 

 planting time, when a shallow cultivation of the surface is all 

 the further working necessary before the plants are set out. 

 On very heavy soils, or any with unsatisfactory drainage, ex- 

 cellent results can be obtained by laying the soil in ridges, 2ft. 

 Gin. apart, at the approach of winter, putting a little well-decayed 

 manure in the furrows during a spell of frost, and splitting the 

 ridges over this not later than February. About the middle of 

 May the ridges are rounded by drawing a light harrow or rake 

 along them, and the plants are set out down the middle of each 

 mound, or rounded bed. This method ensures the soil about 

 the roots lying warmer and drier in any weather, and at the 

 same time provides ample moisture when the season is dry. 

 Although the Tomato plant does not send its roots deeply into 

 the soil it must not be supposed that therefore shallow pre- 

 paration is sufficient. It is not. The plant revels in hot bright 

 sunshine, and on soil that is deeply worked it appears to flourish 

 the more the hotter and drier the weather is, because moisture 

 is continually rising and feeding it, but under such conditions 

 on soil that has only received a shallow working it would wilt 

 from lack of moisture and growth would be almost stationary. 



This is the principal reason for the early preparation of soils; 

 they then become friable and kindly by the dessicating influence 

 of the weather, the particles settle into a compact but not solid 

 mass, and the whole gets saturated with aerated moisture, a 

 large quantity of which is held in suspension as a film sur- 

 rounding each particle ; this moisture rises to the surface during 

 the summer by capillarity, and so affords a continuous supply 

 to the plant. On the other hand, when soil is prepared late in 

 the spring, unless it is in mellow condition by constant working 

 and the frequent addition of humus, it forms into hard clods 

 which can seldom be brought to a good tilth ; when undisturbed 

 through the winter it lies more solidly and so contains less 

 moisture, and what it does contain escapes more freely by 

 evaporation, so that late-worked cloddy soil soon dries out, or 

 in the expressive phrase of the countryman, it "lets in the 

 drought." 



