258 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



one in a fiour barrel, which kept poorly; the other barrel, which had con- 

 tained lime, kept entirely sound. The apples looked as if only just picked 

 from the tree, and the flavor uninjured. 



Mr. A. L. Smith. — I have tried apples packed in lime to my satisfaction. 

 I shall not try it again; they kept well, but the flavor was destroyed; 

 besides, it is very difficult to clean the apples from the lime, and then they 

 decay very rapidly when exposed to the air. 



Early Tomatoes. 



Mr. J. Franklin Spaulding", Nashua, N. H., writes: 



" I notice in the reports of the weekly meetings of the American Insti- 

 tute Farmers' Club, January 27, the Chairman says: 'The best w^ay for a 

 family to get early tomatoes is to grow the plants in a hotbed, and select 

 the strongest, and set them in the most favorable situation.' An erroneous 

 opinion prevails in regard to this subject, which it would, I think, be well 

 to set right. Most people, excepting professional gardeners, suppose that 

 the earlier you start plants the more forward they are at setting, and the 

 earlier you get tomatoes. This belief is so prevalent that it is difficult to 

 dispose of plants which are not nearly ready to bloom at setting time. 

 This works to the gardener's advantage, as the first lot of pliints are gen- 

 erally set early, and the late frost makes rc^m for another set. In this 

 vicinity plants should not, on the 25th of May, be more than five inches 

 high, and the second week in April is early enough to sow your seed. That 

 the practice of producing large plants is opposed to nature's laws, we will 

 endeavor to show by reason. As a plant reaches maturity, the growing 

 power develops into a fruit-producing, which w^as the principal object of 

 the plant's growth. A sufficient volume of roots having grown for this 

 purpose, their object is to furnish nourishment and strength to the plant.' 

 Disturb these roots by transplanting, and yoB take away the vital power 

 of the plant, for they do not seem to possess, after a certain date, the power 

 of reproducing root, except at the sacrifice of fruit. A young plant, on the 

 other hand, readily revives, and soon gets over the check which it has 

 received by transplanting." 



Mr. John G. Bergen. — I was the chairman at that meeting. The gentle- 

 man must have misunderstood my remarks. I sow the seed in hotbeds 

 in February and in April; when the plants are about three inches high 

 they are transplanted to other beds not as hot, but where they can be pro- 

 tected. They are set in these beds four or five inches apart, where they 

 grow stocky, with strong roots; and from these beds they are transferred 

 to the field, after all danger of frost is over, with as much dirt as possible 

 adhering. To make it adhere, the bed is drenched with water, and the 

 plants taken up with a trowel or spade and set upright upon boards, and 

 reset rapidly, and the growth hardly checked. When plants are taken 

 direct from the hotbeds to the field, they have but very small roots, and 

 their growth is seriously checked. We are careful to set the plants about 

 the same depth they stood in the plant beds. 



Dr. Trimble. — I take my plants from the hotbed and set them in pieces 

 of reversed sod, and place them where they are sheltered, until ready to 

 set in place, and thus I get well rooted plants, that are not checked in 



