308 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



THE IMPROVED TOMATO. 



A letter from C. Edwards Lester, says : 



I have grown the tomato, and watched its culture in many of 

 the climates and countries of Europe and America, and I will 

 furnish my little quota of observation and practical experience, 

 hoping thereby to draw out valuable information from others. 

 Everybody knows something of the value of the tomato as a 

 fruit, and how we should miss it if it could be raised no more. 

 But very few persons know how easily and abundantly it can be 

 grown in perfection, how cheaply it can be preserved for future 

 use in many forms, nor its invaluable medical properties as con- 

 ducive to health and vitality. I will speak only on two or three 

 of these points. 



1. The best kinds and varieties. — Six years ago I began a more 

 thorough system of experiments than I had ever practiced or 

 seen. I prepared my bed for growing tomatoes, and the analysis 

 of the soil corresponded very closely with the chemical compo- 

 nents of the fruit. I then germinated ten or twelve of the finest 

 varieties I had, or could get, and obtained large vigorous plants 

 of the same kinds from our New York gardens. One of each 

 was planted by itself, where it could not hybridize. In another 

 bed I planted all the varieties together, to make them hybridize, 

 and multiply new kinds. 



I succeeded in getting one variety, which I found superior to 

 any I had ever seen, in the following qualities : delicacy of flavor, 

 thinness and smoothness of skin, fewness of seeds, solidity of 

 meat, earliness of ripening, richness of color, evenness of size, 

 and ease of culture. The next year I cast all other varieties 

 away, and brought this to perfection ; and it has been universally 

 pronounced by agricultural fairs, farmers' clubs, and scientific 

 horticulturists, to be superior to any other. 



2. My mode of culture. — Germinate in a hot-house, hot-bed, or 

 kitchen ; for very early fruit, transplant when quite small into 

 pots. The tomato improves by every transplanting, and each 

 time should be set deeper. From the time four or six leaves 

 appear, pinch or cut off the larger lower leaves and the ter- 

 minal buds, and continue this process of pruning till the fruit is 

 far advanced, so that when ripe the bed will seem to be covered 

 by one mass of large, smooth, even-sized tomatoes, of the richest 

 pomegranate color, and the leaves hidden by the friiit. 



Set plants three or four feet apart, in the warmest spot you 



