Tomato 



( 396 ) 



Top-dressing 



boxes, or from plants in beds and borders. Pot 

 culture is probably the best general method, pots 

 of 10" being used, and only two-thirds filled with 

 soil until the fruit is set, when they may be 

 filled in two operations with good loam. Stop- 

 ping is practised by some growers when the 

 first bunch of fruit is set, to promote early maturity 

 of the fruit. Water should be liberally given to 

 established plants, as well as copious supplies of 

 liquid manure. Great care should be exercised to 

 keep the atmosphere of the house dry and moving, 

 :is moisture laden, badly ventilated surroundings 

 are the cause of disease. The plants should 

 be ; confined to single stems, grown 18" apart, 

 assisted to set their fruit by gently tapping the 

 stems at midday when the flowers are open, and 

 should have all impeding and overreaching foliage 

 removed when the fruit is ripening. Severe defolia- 

 tion is not advisable. 



Culture Outdoors. Strong plants from 5" or 6" 

 pots maj* be placed in sunny positions outside about 

 the first week in June. They may be planted against 

 a wall or fence, or in rows 3' apart, each being 

 supported with a stout stake. Summer culture 

 will consist chiefly of removing side shoots and 

 superfluous foliage, giving the plants water and 

 liquid manure as required, and keeping the growths 

 well secured to the stakes. Any fruit not ripe on 

 the approach of frost may be finished in a warm 

 room, sunny window, or on a greenhouse shelf. 



Winter Culture. This is not practised to any 

 great extent, as the results rarely justify the 

 expense incurred. Cuttings are struck in August 

 in small pots, and grown on until they reach the 

 fruiting stage in 10" pots. All side shoots are 

 regularly removed, a buoyant^ temperature of 60 

 is maintained, and feeding and watering are carried 

 out carefully. Cuttings are also inserted in Sep- 

 tember for the production of early spring crops ; 

 or plants may be raised from seed. 



Diseases. Black Spot (Macrosporium Tomato), 

 causing black blotches on the fruit, may be pre- 

 vented by using Bordeaux Mixture, Veltha, or 

 sulphide of potassium, J oz. to 1 gallon of water. 

 There is no cure, and affected fruits should be 

 burned as soon as noticed. 



Sjmt Fiingui (Cladosporium fulvum) generally 

 attacks the lower leaves first, and thence spreads 

 to the fruits. All affected leaves should be burnt, 

 and the plants syringed with the remedies recom- 

 mended above. Keeping the house dry, and 

 allowing the temperature to run up to 110 for a 

 few days, are helpful. 



Sleepy Disease. This (Fusarium Lycopersici) 

 affects the stem of the plant, cutting off the supply 

 of sap, and causing an early collapse. There is 

 no cure, but beneficial results follow an application 

 of j Ib. of basic slag phosphate and 4 oz. of kainit 

 to 1 square yard of soil. Veltha may also be 

 used. 



White Fly. This ofttimes troublesome pest 

 should be attacked by fumigating on three suc- 

 cessive evenings, or with Calvert's carbolic soft 

 soap. 



Selection of Varieties : 



For Indoors. Perfection, Frogmore Selected, 

 Holmes's Supreme, Ham Green Favourite, Golden 

 Nugget, Golden Queen, and Chemin Rouge. 



For Outdoors. Comet, Earliest of All, Laxton's 

 Open Air, and Early Baby. 



TOOLS. 



A clean, bright tool performs its work much 

 more easily than one that is rusted and dirty, 

 therefore every effort should be made to keep 

 all tools perfectly clean. The first step is to make 

 each person responsible for the state of the tool 

 he uses ; thus each man should have his allotted 

 spade, fork, broom, and hoe. All tools should 

 have their proper places, so that an inspection is 

 easily made, or a required implement readily found. 

 The quickest way of cleaning dirty tools is to 

 use a pail of water and a scrubbing brush ; if the 

 tools are stood near the flue in the stokehole they 

 will quickly dry, and may be rubbed with an oily 

 rag before putting them in their places. This 

 applies to the smaller tools ; such as rollers and 

 mowing machines may be cleaned with a stiff broom 

 and brush, taking care to remove all grass from 

 the latter when its services are only requisitioned 

 once a week. When stored for the winter, all 

 tools should be thoroughly cleaned, carefully oiled, 

 and stored in a dry place to ensure their being in 

 good condition when next required. The mowing 

 machine, being the most complicated of the garden 

 tools, requires especial care in this respect. No 

 tool should ever be put away with any of its parts 

 broken, or such breakage will probably be for- 

 gotten, and disappointment follow the attempted 

 use of the tool in a case of emergency. 



Tools useful in every garden are Asparagus 

 knife, bill-hook, edging iron, budding and pruning 

 knives, forks (hand, dung, and digging), garden 

 reel, hammer, hoes (Dutch and draw patterns), 

 rakes (two sizes), spade, trowel, secateurs, hone 

 and rubber for sharpening, shears (edging and 

 clipping), shovel, syringe, water cans (at least 

 three sizes), lawn mower, roller, scythe, hand- and 

 wheel-barrow, sulphur distributor, pail, lawn 

 marker for tennis, crowbar, dibber, Daisy grubber, 

 tree pruner, Grape scissors, saws (hand and 

 pruning), pruning hook, sieves, ladders, steps, and 

 a lamp. To these may also be added garden 

 engine, water barrow, hose and reel, thermometer, 

 trug baskets, flower baskets, pickaxe, mallet, ram- 

 mers, grub axe, turf beater, and turf cutter. 



TOOLHOUSE. 



Only in large establishments is it possible to set 

 aside a house especially for tools. Much can be 

 done, however, to render any dry room used for 

 other purposes suitable for the accommodation of 

 the smaller garden implements by a liberal inser- 

 tion of nails and hooks in the walls, or by forming 

 racks on them made of looped hoop iron. Where 

 a building is sufficiently high, a few strips of wood 

 nailed across the rafters of the roof make a very 

 handy rack for holding rakes, hoes, and forks. In 

 buildings with wooden sides useful racks for tools 

 of the spade and edging iron class may be made 

 by nailing strips of wood to the vertical rafters, 

 from 1' to 2J' from the ground. 



TOP-DRESSING. 



This forms a very useful and convenient 

 alternative to repotting or replanting. It consists 

 in removing a portion of the inert surface soil 



Tongue Grafting (see Grafting). 

 Tongue (trass (Lepiditim sativum}. 

 Tongue Violet (Sr/i ireiygeriii fruticosa). 

 Tonqiiin liean (Dipteryj- ndnrata). 

 ToothacJie Tree, (see Xant/iofi/lum). 

 Tootlmort (see JJentaria and Plumbago). 



