TKe Grooving of Tomatoes* 



^HE tomato is one of the commer- 

 cial vegetables, and one that is 

 going to have a great future. In 

 article, I shall refer chiefly to 

 rowing the main crop of tomatoes 

 putdoors. While we all may know 

 enough to improve the crop, we do not 

 ilways put into use the knowledge 

 ve have. We are engaged as part of 

 great multitude whose business 

 it is to feed mankind, and it should be 

 Pour pride to produce tomatoes and 

 other crops of a good quality at as low 

 a cost as possible. I do not mean by 

 that that there is any \'irtue in letting 

 Canadian canners fix the price of 

 tomatoes at such a price as leaves us 

 less than a fair profit, or that there is 

 any virtue in letting the transporta- 

 tion companies absorb 

 most of the profits, but 

 I do think that it is our 

 business to increase our 

 crops and decrease our 

 cost of production. If 

 we cannot produce tom- 

 atoes as cheaply as some 

 other people, we will 

 jse business in the long 

 m. 



|roduce big crops por 

 cheapness 



I would like to out- 

 ne briefly some of the 

 effects that go to pro- 

 luce a big crop of tom- 

 Itoes. There is always 



_nore than one way. of 

 doing a thing. It is an 

 important factor in the 

 production of cheap 

 tomatoes to produce a 

 big crop. Of course, 

 the early crop is some- 

 what different. I am 

 speaking chiefly of the 

 main crop of tomatoes. 

 To grow a large crop of 



^omatoes, we must get plants produced 

 rom good seed. These plants must 

 _ set out in suitable soil and properly 

 lentilated. The crop must be taken 

 ^re of and well cultivated before it is 

 jpady for the market. 



H.WE GOOD SEED 



We need good seed, and by good seed 

 mean seed that has high germinating 

 pwer, and that will produce tomatoes 

 ' a good flavor and of a uniform type 

 bch as we desire. When vou take 

 vo tomato plants grown from the 

 ime seed in the same condition, and 

 _ Jt them out in different soils, there 

 is a wonderful difference in the result. 

 I had some striking illustrations this 

 year. Good seed is the foundation 



•A ixirtiiii of an address delivered at last convention 

 of the Ontario \'egetab1e Orowers' Association. 



V/. C. McCalla. St. CatKarines. Ontari 



and in order to get it, I think that 

 every grower should select his own. 

 It will mean a little work year after 

 year, but I am sure that it will pay. 

 You should not only select the early 

 ripening fruits, but fruits from the best 

 vines that come the nearest to your 

 ideal of what a vine should be. Place 

 stakes on these selected vines and 

 allow the fruit to ripen perfectly, and 

 gather when thoroughly ripened. Slice 

 off the top of each tomato and squeeze 

 out the seeds with the adhering pulp 

 into a pail of water and let it ferment 

 for twenty-four hours, and then pour 

 off the seeds and the pulp and wash. 

 Take out heavy seeds and dry quickly 

 and you will have seed of bright 

 color and high germinating qualities. 



of manure into the soil to give drainage. 

 It was an exceedingly difficult mat- 

 ter to get good plants last spring. It 

 was practically impossible to get seed- 

 lings out in the cold frames. When 

 the farmers were forced to put them 

 out, they encountered bad weather. 

 I saw 1,000 plants that turned yellow 

 and went back; they made no growth 

 for two or three weeks. A stunted 

 plant, like a stunted hog, is a poor 

 proposition into which to put feed and 

 labor. I have heard men say that 

 you cannot kill a tomato plant, con- 

 sequently they handle them as roughly 

 as possible. It is hard to kill them, they 

 will stand a lot of abuse, but I am satis- 

 fied that abused and stunted plants never 

 give the results that thrifty plants do. 



The Fairyland Scene Which Snow Produces 



They will come up from two to three 

 days ahead of the regular purchased 

 article, and make a thrifty growth 

 from the start, a growth that you will 

 know is a safe foundation on which to 

 build a crop. 



STARTING SEED AND PLANTS 



For the late crop, we plant our seed 

 the last week in March in hotbeds, put- 

 ting the seeds in flats. When the 

 plants are large enough to handle, in 

 about two or three weeks, we take 

 them out into smaller flats and place 

 these plants in the hotbed, giving 

 them as much air as possible. We put 

 from 100 to 200 plants in an ordinary 

 flat, made from soap boxes. When 

 these begin to crowd, usually about the 

 first week in May, we put them into 

 framesoutside, putting three or fourloads 



This double handling does not take 

 so much extra time as one might think. 

 I do it nearly all in stormy weather, 

 when it is too unpleasant to work out- 

 side. I like to put them about four 

 by four when they finally go into the 

 frames; it makes them thrifty in every 

 way, and they are ready to make 

 growth as soon as they go into the 

 field. The soil on which tomatoes are 

 planted should have, as a first consid- 

 eration, good drainage. My preference 

 is a rather light, sandy loam, thor- 

 oughly underdrained, and I get my 

 best crop from the higher parts of the 

 field. This light soil grows the very 

 best tomatoes, potatoes, melons and 

 squash, and a great many other crops. 

 Be sure and have it rich enough. 



