STARTING PLANTS 65 



usually within 10 days from the sowing of the seed. 

 When this is done a great proportion of the plants 

 will start branches from the axils of the cotyledons ; 

 these usually develop blossoms in the third to the fifth 

 node and produce fruit much lower than in a normal 

 plant. It is questionable if there is any gain in time 

 from seed to fruit by this method, but it enables one 

 to get older plants of a size which it is practicable to 

 transplant to the field. 



In most cases it will be found more profitable and 

 satisfactory so to grow the plants that by the time 

 they can be safely set out of doors they will be in vig- 

 orous condition, about 6 to 10 inches tall, stout, healthy 

 and well hardened off. Such plants will ripen fruit 

 nearly, and often quite as early* as older ones and will 

 produce a constant succession of fruit, instead of ripen- 

 ing a single cluster or two and then no more until 

 they have made a new growth. 



For late summer and early fall. It is generally 

 true in the South and often equally so in the North, 

 that there is a more eager local demand for tomatoes 

 in the late summer and fall months, after most of the 

 spring set plants have ceased bearing, than in early 

 summer. In Michigan I have often been able to get 

 more for choice fruit in late October and in November 

 than the best Floridas were sold for in May or early 

 June, and certainly in the South the home use of fresh 

 tomatoes should not be confined to spring set plants. 

 For the fall crop in the South seed may be sown in 

 late spring or up to the middle of July, in beds shaded 

 with frames, covered with lath nailed 3 to 4 inches 

 apart and the plants set in the field about 40 days from 



