THE TOMATO. 227 



shows the least sign of "turning." Generally the pick- 

 ing is done there, when the tomato is much too green to 

 ripen properly, and at the cost of the producer. The 

 pickers should not place leaky or decaying fruit in their 

 baskets to soil the rest. Tomatoes, like all other stock 

 for which good prices are expected, should be carefully 

 assorted, both as to quality and degree of ripeness, all 

 inferior or worm-eaten fruit being strictly excluded. To- 

 matoes should not be emptied out of the baskets into 

 the crates and shaken down like potatoes, but packed 

 singly, in order that they may lie compactly, so that 

 upon arrival in market, each package may present a full 

 and unshaken appearance. In the moie careful packing 

 practised in later years, the fruit has been wrapped in 

 paper. This wrapping protects the remainder of the 

 fruit from leaking or decay in the crate. Paper for the 

 purpose should be porous, soft and strong. Pieces seven 

 inches square (forty-nine square inches) will answer for 

 fruit of medium size. 



A tomato as it is picked from the plant may fre- 

 quently present a perfectly sound appearance, until the 

 stem is removed, when it is found to contain a well- 

 grown worm of Heliothis armigera the Cotton-boll 

 worm ; the insect, while very small, having penetrated 

 the fruit under the calyx. A reason for rubbing off all 

 the stems, is, the danger of their bruising other fruit or 

 tearing the wrapping paper. In our Southern climate, 

 an early tomato plant will not continue in bearing be- 

 yond the first part of August ; but a succession may be 

 secured by putting out plants in July from seed sown in 

 May, or early in June. From this crop, grown in hot 

 weather, however, neither the yield nor the size of the 

 fruit will be as satisfactory as the earlier one. Plants 

 may also bs propagated from cuttings of old vines, if set 

 out in moist ground ; but many frequently fail to take 

 root. 



