224 FRUITS AND VEGETABLES UNDER GLASS 



TOMATOES AS A CATCH CROP 



There are many pri\ate establishments that do not set aside a special 

 house for this important crop. A batch may very well be grown in any other 

 house where a suitable temperature can be maintained, with full sunlight. I 

 have seen excellent Tomatoes grown in bo.xes about eight inches wide, six inches 

 deep and long enough to accommodate three or four plants. They may even 

 be grown along in pots, up to eleven or twelve inches for fruiting, and quite 

 a good crop may be had in this way. Tomatoes can be highly recommended 

 for this mode of culture. A rosehouse temperature is excellent. The only 

 difference in treatment, especially with the pot plants, is that they require 

 perhaps a little more food. 



PREPARATIONS FOR SPRING CROP 



When growing Tomatoes by the single stem system, plants that have been 

 cropping during the late Fall and Winter are about played out by the end of 

 February. Young plants in four- or five-inch pots should therefore be ready 

 to replace the old ones; these may be obtained either from cuttings or from 

 seed. I decidedly prefer the latter, for the seedlings seem to grow more evenly. 

 In order to have these young plants ready by the end of February or the first 

 of March, the seed should be sown in January, for their progress is slow in the 

 Winter months. Keep the plants near the glass, to keep them from becoming 

 spindly. It is also advisable to replenish the soil on a raised bench, as the roots 

 from the old vines will have penetrated through. While fairly good fruit may 

 be grown by working some manure into the old beds before planting again, yet 

 a finer crop will be assured by renewing the soil. For a Spring crop, however, 

 solid beds can be relied upon to yield a heavy crop. Tomatoes planted in solid 

 beds from the Spring onward will not require the same close attention as those 

 produced on raised benches. Such conditions are ideal for late Spring and 

 early Summer cropping. 



INSECTS AND FUNGOUS DISEASES 



The Tomato under glass, especially when grown in any way soft, is easily 

 attacked by different diseases; but these may be kept down by following the 

 instructions given as to careful airing and steady temperature, with a dry, 

 bracing atmosphere at night. If the vines are once attacked, the disease will 

 spread rapidly. Tomato rust or mildew appears in the form of fungus patches 

 on the under side of the leaf, and this alone will ruin a crop in a short time. This 

 growth must be checked as soon as it is detected; any of the fungicide mixtures 

 will do the work, but it is well to select one that will not disfigure the white 

 paint of the house. Copper solution is about as effective as anything else, and 

 leaves but few marks behind. These remedies must be used carefully, for the 

 Tomato foliage is very easily burnt, and even the copper solution should be 

 made weaker than the directions call for. 



