146 VEGETABLE GROWING. 



Very few tomato growers pay any attention to local 

 or near-by markets, so it not unfrequently happens 

 that tomatoes are being shipped to New York at a loss, 

 when our southern towns and cities have to depend on 

 northern canned goods. Many instances of this kind 

 could be cited without going back more than a year. 



The usual tomato crate holds about twenty-four 

 quarts, and should be made of first-grade material ; no 

 pains should be spared to make the crate and the ma- 

 terial in the crate look as attractive as possible. It 

 is found profitable to even go as far as to use a tinge of 

 color on the lid of the crate, and represent a highly- 

 colored tomato, as a trade mark. 



SUMMER AND FALL CROP. 



While many of our neighbors vigorously declare 

 that tomatoes cannot be grown during the summer 

 and fall in the South, we can content ourselves by say- 

 ing that many people are not only able to raise them, 

 but sell them with profit. It will, doubtless, only 

 be a few years until it will be as easy to raise a 

 crop of tomatoes in the summer or fall as it is in the 

 spring. Many of us can remember the time when it 

 was generally reported that tomatoes could not be 

 raised at all in the South. 



In preparing for fall crop, a cold frame should be 

 prepared, as for the spring crop. The protecting cloth 

 in this case is used for an entirely different purpose, 

 however. At this time of the year we want it to keep 

 the sun off and the rain out. 



All the watering had better be done by hand. In 

 setting the tomatoes out, care should be taken to pro- 

 vide for them a shelter by using slats, or plant them 

 in a pine forest. If one intends to build a shade of 

 slats, this can be easily done by placing stringers on 

 the tops of seven foot posts, and then laying slats 



