CHAPTER XXXIV 



TOMATOES 



Planting and Training — Watering and Feeding — Temperatures and 

 Airing — Setting the Fruit — Tomatoes as a Catch Crop — Prepara- 

 tions FOR Spring Crop— Insects and Fungous Diseases — Varieties 



WE come now to a class ol' \egctables that require a warmer atmos- 

 phere, and in roliowing cultural directions for this crop the grower 

 should be governed b.\- the season. For a Spring or early Summer 

 crop solid beds are excellent. When the lettucehouse is beginning to get too 

 warm for its own crop, nice thrifty Tomato plants, which have been grown in 

 four-inch or five-inch pots, may be planted in the beds, where they will pro- 

 duce an excellent crop until the outdoor product comes into season. The adapta- 

 bility of Tomatoes for forcing purposes has been known for years, and it is 

 today one of the main Winter staple crops under glass, both for the market 

 and for private purposes. As a forced vegetable (or fruit) the Tomato is pecu- 

 liarly responsive to glass culture, bearing heavy crops of well-developed fruit, 

 generally of better quality than can be grown in the open field or garden, unless 

 the season for the latter is unusually favorable — that is, comparatively dry; 

 the fruit is then more solid and firm. When grown under glass, the conditions 

 can therefore be created that will give the best results. Aside from the ad- 

 vantage of having fresh fruit always at command, it is interesting to watch 

 their development through the Winter months, the vines loaded down with their 

 weight of fruit when everything outside is dormant. 



Tomatoes are not difficult to handle under glass at any season. Of course, 

 they will need much closer attention during the short days than on toward 

 Spring and early Summer. I may as well, therefore, confine my remarks to 

 Winter treatment. There is no difficulty, as a rule, in obtaining a rapid, luxu- 

 riant growth, but this is often more harmful than beneficial. Strong, thrifty 

 vines are of great importance, but do not lose sight of the fact that we must also 

 have a short-jointed, firm growth, rather than a soft, rapid development of 

 vine and foliage. All plant life is, of course, benefited by a certain amount of 

 nitrogen in the soil, but it should be used sparingly with Tomatoes, or we may 

 get a rank growth at the expense of fruit. Combined with the proper treatment, 

 potash and phosphoric acid are two important elements in building up the vines 

 with the view to a plentiful supply of fruit, as I shall explain later. 



