VARIETIES. 209 



time the pollen is shed, the house should be kept quite 

 warm and the atmosphere dry. By gently shaking or 

 tapping the blossom shoots, the pollen will be scattered 

 to some extent, but larger and more regular fruits will 

 be obtained if the flowers are artificially cross-fertilized. 

 Perhaps the easiest way of doing this is to take pollen, 

 obtained from flowers collected the previous summer 

 and dried, upon a small paddle and touch it to the 

 stigmas of the flowers. Bees may also be used for fer- 

 tilizing this crop. As the fruits develop, if large vari- 

 eties are grown, it will pay to support the clusters by 

 means of slings of raffia. From the plants started about 

 the first of August, fruit should be obtained in Novem- 

 ber, and from three to four months will be required by 

 the spring crop after the seed is sown. 



VARIETIES. 



In selecting varieties for forcing, the very early 

 angular sorts should not be chosen, as, when forced, 

 they are very small and irregular; neither should the 

 very large, rough sorts be used, as they will be more 

 irregular than when grown in the open air. The Beauty 

 is one of the best of the purple sorts, and Ignotum and 

 Volunteer, of the red kinds, answer well for the spring 

 crop, but as an early winter variety, the Advance, or 

 Lorillard, should be used. Nicholson is also well 

 adapted to winter forcing. From two to five pounds per 

 plant, according to the season, would be a fair crop, and 

 the wholesale price will vary from ten cents per pound 

 in May, to forty or fifty in January, and at this rate will 

 be quite remunerative. 



GENERAL RULES. 



To obtain the best results in forcing tomatoes dur- 

 ing the winter months: (1.) The house must be built so as 

 to afford the plants as much sunlight as possible ; it 

 should have a space of at least six feet above the tables, 

 14 



