Tomatoes. 349 



Thinning the Foliage. That an abundance of healthy 

 foliage is necessary to the production of a heavy crop of fruit 

 is beyond question ; it therefore follows that to remove any of 

 the leaves cannot of itself be a good thing to do. On the other 

 hand, for reasons already given, it is a bad thing to allow the 

 foliage to form into a dense mass which excludes sunlight and 

 air ; so that we are obliged to choose between the alternatives 

 of setting the plants wider apart or reducing the foliage. 

 Before deciding, since the ultimate object of the grower is to 

 obtain the largest possible return from a given area, it is 

 necessary to know what will be the effect of either course 

 upon the crop. Plants which are given plenty of space and 

 allowed to retain the whole of. their leaves yield heavy crops, 

 but the additional weight of fruit per plant does not amount 

 to the loss sustained by there being fewer plants in bearing ; 

 whilst if close planting is carried to an extreme and the foliage 

 severely thinned the weight per plant is so small that the total 

 crop is still lighter than from wide planting. The conclusion, 

 therefore, is that the best all-round results are obtained when 

 the plants are set as closely as may safely be done without 

 overcrowding, followed by a judicious thinning of the foliage, 

 the amount removed being sufficient to admit light and air 

 without materially damaging the plants. 



For many years past the following method has met with 

 complete success : The leaves are left intact until the first bunch 

 of fruit shows signs of colouring, then all from the bottom 

 to the first one above the bunch are stripped off ; this admits 

 sunshine to the fruit and so hastens its ripening, and at the 

 same time permits the pickers to see at a glance what fruit is 

 ready for removal. As the higher bunches begin to colour the 

 leaves are shortened to half their length, first to the second 

 bunch and then to the third and so on. This system provides 

 for a gradual reduction of foliage, always of the oldest and 

 least useful, and leaves the youngest and most active working 

 leaves near the top of the plant uninjured. The nature of the 

 season is also taken into consideration, the thinning being more 

 moderately done in hot dry weather, and rather more severely 

 in cold wet weather, with the object of keeping the foliage as 

 dry as possible and hastening ripening. 



