Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 80 L 



back the soil, mixing manure with this also. This will raise a ridge 

 four or live inches high, with a soil twenty or more inches deep. On 

 the top of this ridge set the plants about three and a half feet apart 

 in a single row. When set in squares they do not get light or air 

 enough to ripen fast, and in wet seasons will rot before they ripen. 

 Xext, prepare frames, making them four square, flaring toward the 

 top; make them of strips of inch boards and plastering lath, the lower 

 rung about twelve inches long, and the top sixteen inches, and should 

 stand out of the ground three feet; place one of these frames over 

 each stalk ; keep the ground clear of weeds, and let alone until the 

 iirst fruit ripens, which you will find near the ground and near the 

 main stem. By this time there is as much fruit set, or in blossom, as 

 the vine can ripen, and it is time to commence pruning, not by lop- 

 ping ofi:' leaves and branches, but if you notice you will find little 

 bunches of leaves starting in the next fork above where the last blos- 

 soms are. This bunch of leaves contains another set of blossoms, and 

 is wdiat should be cut out with a pair of scissoi*s or a sharp knife. 

 The vines should be gone over every two or three days. Yines thus 

 treated can reasonably be expected to yield one-half bushel ripe 

 tomatoes each. One thing more, hurry them on as much as possible^, 

 so as to ripen them before the nights get cool. They lose flavor and'_ 

 become more acid in cold weather. I like to be done canning the 

 first week in September, if not before. 



Mr. F. D. Curtis. — ^Persons who adopt this system of culture will 

 do well, particularly if they live in latitude north of ]^ew York, to- 

 cut off all growth of vine above the second setting. As much' fruit 

 will then be left as will be likely to ripen, 



"Why Gardeners get sucn High Wages. 



Mr. T. B. Reed, Sagadahoc, Me., reads of large figures paid tO' 

 good gardeners, and wonders. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — The able gardener must know a great 

 deal ; he must bear much responsibility ; and he must work very 

 steadily. A green house must be familiar to him in all its depart- 

 ments. He must know the proper temperature for each room, 

 how cool to keep his ferns, how hot his propagating bed ; when to 

 ventilate and when to keep liis glass down. If a new rose comes; 

 out he must know of it, and get a cutting. If a rival gardener gets a 

 remarkable dahlia, he must breed one still more extraordinary. He^ 

 must know which strawbkerries suit his soil^ which pea. is the earliest 



[Inst.] 51 



