CULTURAL DIRECTIONS 457 



many others so far as details are concerned) are in 

 common use: 



1. Sow thinly, 6 to 8 weeks before field planting, in 

 hotbed or greenhouse in rows 3 to 6 inches apart, and 

 set in the field without previous transplanting. This 

 plan should not be recommended, because the plants are 

 usually spindly and the root system poorly developed. 



2. Sow 10 to 12 seeds to the inch of furrow, rows 2 

 inches apart, 7 to 8 weeks before field planting; trans- 

 plant 1^2 or 2 inches apart in 3 or 4 weeks from sowing. 



3. Sow as directed in No. 2, about nine weeks before 

 field planting; transplant ij^ or 2 inches apart, prefer- 

 ably in the greenhouse ; three weeks later, plant 4 x 4 or 

 4x5 inches apart in flats or beds, or in 3 to 5-inch paper 

 or earthen pots, or in veneered boxes or berry baskets. 

 This method with any of its modifications should pro- 

 duce fine plants and meet the requirements when the 

 tomatoes are grown on a large field scale. 



4. Sow 10 to II weeks before field planting, and make 

 at least three shifts in flats, beds or preferably pots, the 

 space or the size of the pots being increased each time 

 until the plants stand 7 to 10 inches apart. When this 

 method is followed, the crown cluster of flowering buds 

 should be removed as soon as it appears. This will 

 cause the axillary buds and branches to develop rapidly 

 and each to produce a cluster of flowers. The plant will 

 thus have two to five flower clusters instead of one when 

 set in the field. There should be a bountiful supply of 

 ripe tomatoes in 40 or 45 days from the date the plants 

 are set in the field. Ripe tomatoes from plants of this 

 character have been picked in 37 days from the time of 

 planting in the open ground. In many northern markets 

 the tomatoes which are picked soon after July i will aver- 

 age about 2 cents each. 



Tomato plants should always be grown rather slowly, 

 without check in growth at any time. For a maximum 



