440 GARDEN FARMING 



as nitrate of soda, in localities where there is excessive rainfall, are 

 best applied in two light dressings. 1 



Cultivation. As soon as the young seedlings from the hotbed 

 or greenhouse are transferred to the field they should be given 

 clean cultivation with implements which stir the surface of the soil 

 but do not produce ridges or furrows. The spring-tooth cultivator, 

 or the Planet Jr. type of horse hoe with narrow shovels, makes an 

 ideal implement for cultivating this crop. When the plants are set 

 in check rows 4 feet apart each way, it is possible in field culture 

 to keep the plantation almost perfectly free from weeds by the use 

 of horse hoes alone. If, however, the plants are set so that cultiva- 

 tion can be carried on only in one direction, hand hoeing will be 

 necessary to keep down the weeds between the plants in the row. 

 Where land is not expensive and where hand labor is an item, the 

 cost of producing a crop of tomatoes can be decidedly lessened by 

 planting them in check rows and carrying on the cultivation by 

 horse power. A man with a modern cultivator and a well-trained 

 horse can easily do the work of several men working with hand 

 tools. And since the cost of production determines the percent- 

 age of profit, every legitimate means which does not check the 

 growth or fruitfulness of the plants should be taken advantage of 

 to reduce this item. 



The grower should bear in mind, however, that the object of 

 cultivation is not merely to kill weeds. Destruction of weeds is an 

 important factor and in itself sufficient to justify clean cultivation, 

 but the preservation of a soil mulch for the purpose of husbanding 

 the moisture during periods of drought is of even greater impor- 

 tance. With care in the choice of implements both results can be 

 obtained with the same expenditure of labor. 



Harvesting and marketing. The fruits should be gathered two 

 or three times a week if the tomato is grown as a truck crop, 

 but when grown for canning purposes the harvesting periods 

 need not be so frequent. When the fruits are to be shipped some 

 distance they should be gathered as soon as fully developed and 

 partially colored. Tomatoes are a velvet green up to the time the 

 ripening process begins, but when they are fully grown their color 



1 See New York Slate Station BTdletin No. 32 ; and New Jersey Bulletin 

 No. 79. 



