156 GARDENING DIFFICULTIES SOLVED 



The Tomato Disease 



Q. Please enlighten me as to the cause of these large black 

 patches on my Tomatoes, which are greatly disfigured ? 8. T. W., 

 Richmond. 



vt. Your Tomatoes have got the Tomato disease. It is the same 

 thing as the Potato disease (Peronospora infestans). Pluck off and 

 burn all the infested fruit ; they are not fit for consumption. How 

 the disease has come to attack your plants is difficult to tell, but 

 we think the plants are too close together, or they have been allowed 

 to become overcrowded with leafage, making it impossible for much 

 air and light to permeate amongst the plants. Keeping the plants 

 too wet at the root, and the atmosphere too damp, tends to bring on 

 the disease. You should thin out the laterals and also some of the 

 leaves to let in more light and air amongst the plants. Ventilate 

 freely in warm weather, and on cold, wet days and nights you had 

 better have a little heat in the hot water pipes, always with a little 

 air on. If the disease has attacked the stems or leaves have the 

 diseased parts dressed with flowers of sulphur. 



Earthing Up Potatoes 



Q. How and when should Potatoes be earthed up? Grateful, 

 Exeter. 



A. To cover the young growing tops with a large bulk of soil, 

 as obtains in some gardens, is decidedly a mistake, for in so doing 

 many shoots get badly broken or knocked off, consequently the 

 growth is checked, and the crop suffers. I like to earth up our 

 Potatoes twice during the season. First, by gently drawing a little 

 soil to them when a few inches above ground, and again three weeks 

 later. Previous to the latter earthing we go over the whole plot 

 and remove all superfluous growths from each root, leaving only 

 the two strongest ; at the same time a dressing of soot or wood ash 

 is given. This during the earthing becomes incorporated with the 

 soil, and has a wonderful influence on the foliage and the crop. 



