TOMATO. 239 



TOMATO. 



Love-apple. Solarium lycopersicum. 



When fully grown, the Tomato-plant Js from four to seven 

 feet and upwards in height or length, with a branching, ir- 

 regular, recumbent stein, and dense foliage. The flowers 

 are yellow, in branching groups or clusters ; the fruit is red, 

 white, or yellow, and exceedingly variable in size and form ; 

 the seeds are lens-shaped, yellowish-white, or pale gray. 

 Twenty-one thousand are contained in an ounce, and they 

 retain their vitality five years. 



Propagation. The Tomato is raised from seeds, which 

 should be sown in a hot-bed in March, or in the open ground 

 as soon as the frost will permit. As the plants, even in the 

 most favorable seasons, seldom perfectly mature their full 

 crop, they should be started as early and forwarded as rap- 

 idly as possible, whether by hot-bed or open-air culture. If 

 the seeds are sown in a hot-bed, the drills should be made 

 five inches apart, and half an inch deep. When the plants 

 are two inches high, they should be removed to another part 

 of the bed, and pricked out four or five inches apart, or re- 

 moved into small pots, allowing a single plant to a pot. 

 They are sometimes twice transplanted, allowing more space 

 or a larger pot at each removal, by which process the plants 

 are rendered more sturdy and branching than they become 

 by being but once transplanted. 



As early in May as the weather is suitable, the plants may 

 be set in the open ground where they are to remain, and 

 should be three feet apart in each direction ; or, if against a 

 wall or trellis, three feet from plant to plant. Water 

 freely at the time of transplanting, shelter from the sun for 

 a few days or until they are well established, and cultivate in 

 the usual form during summer. 



If sown in the open ground, select a sheltered situation, 

 pulverize the soil finely, and sow a few seeds in drills, as 

 directed for the hot-bed. This may be done in November 



