TOMATOES. 137 



Another successful method for propagating toinato- 

 plants is to use two and one half inch, three inch and 

 four-inch paper flower-pots. The two and one half inch 

 flower-pots are filled with soil from a cold frame, or 

 soil prepared similarly to cold frame soil, and four or 

 five tomato seed dropped in each one of these. The 

 flower- pots may be plunged into soil, and be cared for 

 the same as hot-beds or cold frames. As soon as leaves 

 begin to appear, all the plants but the strongest in 

 each pot should be pinched off and tnis allowed to 

 grow until the roots begin to strike the pot, when the 

 plants should be shifted to a larger one and the addi- 

 tional space filled with soil similar to what was first 

 used. Before transferring from one pot to another, 

 the soil should be wet down thoroughly, and then the 

 pot held upside down, and, by a slight pressure on 

 the bottom, the whole plant will come out at once. 

 This may then be transferred to the second pot with- 

 out difficulty. When they have been transferred, they 

 should be moistened down again. The above observa- 

 tion will guide us as to the time to transfer to larger 

 pot-*. By careful manipulation, it will be possible to 

 bring tomato plants almost to flowering, and in a vig- 

 orous condition, in the four inch flower-pots. 



SOIL AND LOCATION. 



The soil should be a warm sandy loam with a 

 gentle slope to the south. While this is not always 

 obtainable, it is very desirable to have at least a gen- 

 eral slope in this direction ; the minor elevations and 

 depressions may be neglected. By careful tests it has 

 been proved that soil that has a southern slope v>i\l be 

 five or six degrees warmer than that which has a north- 

 ern slope. For this same reason a clay loam should be 

 avoided, except where the crop is wanted for later 

 market ; in such a case a clay soil will be found well 



