122 GARDENING FOE YOUNG AND OLD. 



The after-cultivation of tomatoes is usually of the 

 simplest kind. I say usually, because sometimes, in the 

 garden, tomatoes are trained to a trellis two and one- 

 half or three feet high. By a little judicious training 

 and pruning, they are quite ornamental, and produce 

 very fine fruit. But in our dry climate, tomatoes are 

 seldom injured by allowing the vines to trail on the 

 ground; and after setting out the plants, all that the 

 tomato-grower need do is to keep the ground well stir- 

 red up and clean, by the frequent use of the cultivator 

 and hoe. 



Tomatoes are now largely grown for the canning estab- 

 lishments. The profit of the crop, however, depends 

 on our ability to get early fruit and market it for con- 

 sumption, while it brings the highest price. Early in 

 the season you can generally get a dollar a basket for 

 the first tomatoes, while, as the season advances and the 

 crop becomes more abundant, the price falls to sixty, fifty, 

 or forty cents per bushel, and sometimes in September, 

 they are sold for ten cents per basket. A basket of to- 

 matoes weighs about thirty pounds, or sixty-six baskets to 

 the ton. The canning establishments pay from eight to 

 fifteen dollars per ton, or at the rate of from twelve and 

 one-half to twenty-three cents per basket. If the whole 

 crop was sold to the canning establishments, the profit 

 would be very moderate; but taken in connection with the 

 high price obtained for the early fruit, twenty cents per 

 basket does very well, and is more profitable than ordi- 

 nary farm crops. But in this, as in all other crops, a 

 great deal depends on securing a large yield per acre. 

 This depends on the length of the season and the power 

 of the sun to ripen the fruit. If the land is rich and 

 is kept well cultivated, and entirely free from weeds, a 

 hot, dry season is favorable. .Sixteen tons per acre, or 

 one thousand baskets may be considered a maximum crop. 



The best varieties for the general crop, are Hathaway's 



