2520. The old-time 



forms of Tomatoes — rt 

 gular and the '* smooth. 



TOMATO 



shipped long distances almost as readily and safely as 

 the apple and more so than the peach, and which, picked 

 and stored on shelves, will prolong the season of fresh 

 Tomatoes from one's own garden till Christmas time. 

 And to please the eye we have the Golden Queen, 

 of clear yellow with 

 a beautiful red 

 cheek, or the White 

 Apple — nearly white— 

 or the Peach, covered 

 with bloom and as 

 beautiful in color as 

 a peach. For pick- 

 ling we have the Red 

 Plum and Yellow 

 Plum, the Red Pear- 

 Shaped and the Yel- 

 low Pear-Shaped, the 

 Red Cherry and the 

 Yellow Cherry, and the 

 cherry -like exquisite- 

 flavored Burbank's 

 Preserving. Every 

 season there are new 

 and more or less dis- 

 tinct varieties added to the lists; and very truly of the 

 making of new varieties of Tomato, like the making of 

 books, there is no end. •^. jl. Tract. 



Tomatoes Under General Field Conditions. -Tomatoes 

 should be started in hotbeds. To make the beds, select 

 a sheltered place on the south side of a bank or erect 

 some shelter on the north side from where the hot- 

 bed is to be made. Dig a hole about a foot deep, 8 

 feet wide and as long as needed; 18 feet long will give 

 room enough to grow plants for twelve acres of Toma- 

 toes. Use fresh stable manure; cart it out in a pile and 

 let it lay three or four days, then work it over until it 

 gets good and hot, then put it into the hole prepared 

 for it, 8 X 18 feet, about 18 inches thick. Then place the 

 frame, 6 x 16 feet, on the manure; that will leave one 

 foot manure outside of the frame; by this means the 

 heat will be just as great at the edge of the bed as it is 

 in the middle. Then place 4 or 5 inches of dirt on the 

 manure and let it lie for a couple of diiys to allow the 

 dirt to get warm. The sash is put on as soon as the 

 dirt is placed. When the dirt is warm, rake it over to 

 get it nice and tine, then sow the seed in drills which 

 are made about 2 inches apart by a marker. Sow the 

 seed by hand; the sash is then put on close to the dirt; 

 at the lower end of the bed the frame is made 3 inches 

 higher at the end next to the bank so the water will run 

 off; the bed is banked up all around so no cold can | 

 in. In this way the bed will be 

 kept warm and the seed will 

 soon come up. After the plants 

 are up nicely, they will need 

 some air that they may become 

 hardened and grow stocky. 

 Ventilating can be done by rais- 

 ing the bottom of the sash and 

 putting a block under them 

 while the sun is hot; but do 

 not neglect to lower them at 

 night. When the plants are 

 four or five weeks old, and 

 about 2 inches high, transplant 

 the first into a bed that has a 

 little warm manure in the bot- 

 tom and 4-G inches of dirt on 

 top. Use sash over this first 

 bed, as the weather is quite 

 cold at night. Do this in order 

 to get the early plants in the 2521. Two forms of the 

 field. Transplant the remainder pear Tomato, 



into coldframes and use cover- 

 ings or shutters made of boards. Transplant all in rows 

 6 inches apart and 2 inches in the row. Keep them in 

 these beds until planted in the open fields. When there 

 is a frost in the morning and plants are large, take off 

 the covering early in the morning that the frosty air may 

 harden the plants while they are in the bed. Sometimes 

 the plants are in blossom before they can be set in the 



TOMATO 



1815 



fields. Never pinch a plant back. A good-sized plant is 

 from 4-6 inches high and stocky; the stronger the plant 

 the earlier will be the crop. The main point is to get the 

 plant strong before it is set in the field, then it will not 

 stop growing, while a slender, weak plant will not start 

 to grow as soon. Transplanting the plants from the 

 sowing bed into the cold beds helps the plants, and they 

 will produce earlier fruit than those set in the fields 

 from the hotbeds. Take them up with a trowel that all 

 of the dirt possible may go with them from the bed 

 into the field. In case the ground is dry, take a large 

 bos with clay in it and make a regular mush, dip the 

 plant into it, then put the plant in the box. One can 

 leave them there for a day or two before setting them 

 in the field. 



Prepare the ground about the same way that farmers 

 prepare corn ground. Have it well harrowed, then 

 mark it off 4 x 6 or 5 x 6. and when the ground is very 

 rich 6 X G feet, and set the plant in the cross. Use the 

 hands to fill the dirt around the plant. Set the plants that 



2522. A pear-shaped 



of Tomato. 



are transplanted under sash first, as they are the oldest 

 and strongest. These can be risked in the field first; 

 then fill that bed with plants again, as plants may be 

 needed for replanting in case cutworms or other causes 

 destroy some of the first setting. 



Never put manure under the plants set in the field. 

 The best way to manure the ground is a year before, 

 for some other crop, such as cabbage, potatoes oi 

 pickles ; then you can grow Tomatoes several years after. 

 Never put Tomatoes in ground prepared with fresh ma- 

 nure, for the manure burns the roots and causes trouble, 

 and the flavor of the Tomatoes is not so good. As soon 

 as a field of Tomatoes is planted, go over the area with 

 hoes and draw up some soil to the plant, and fill in 

 around the plant with e.arth so it will not get dry into 

 the roots. After the pl.ints li.-irin to take root, go 

 through the field both ways witli tli.' .nliivMtor. ;ind 

 keep this up during the seasim. i iii. :i!i!m.i < ii!i!\;,tt' 

 them too much. Some farnuTs ihink •! i i' ! mmic 

 are no weeds growing around tli. pl:ii ■ ly 



little cultivating, but this is a iiii^takr. \\\nt il. -.a- 

 son is dry they need more cultivation in c.rder to keep 

 up the moisture. 



Half-bushel baskets are very useful in picking Toma- 

 toes. Our own practice is to take about six rows in a 

 piece and throw the vines of a row around so that we 

 can drive a team through the field. If the rows are 6 

 feet apart a team can go through without destroying 

 many Tomatoes. In that way one can pick more Toma- 

 toes "in a short time because he does not have to carry 

 them so far. Have boxes alongside where the team will 

 go and the Tomatoes are carried to these bushel boxes, 

 and when the team comes are loaded and driven to the 

 factory. Picking is done mostly by children. A man is 

 with them who keeps account of what they pick and 

 gives them instructions in picking, g, j, HErsz Co. 



Tomato Culture in the South. -The Tomato is one of 

 the most capricious of market-garden vegetables. It is 

 of greater relative importance in the South than in the 

 North. Essentials of habit and cultivation do not ma- 

 terially differ in either section. While by no means a 



