PROCESS OF RIPENING IN THE TOMATO. 6 



conduct experimental work with material grown under the con- 

 ditions peculiar to Florida. 



The quality of a tomato is largely determined by the amount and 

 kind of sugars, plant acids, and vitamins which are present. It was 

 obvious, therefore, that the method of approaching the problem would 

 be a chemical one. If the chemical composition of vine-ripened toma- 

 toes were known for a number of stages in the process of ripening, 

 the data would afford a criterion for judging commercially ripened 



fruit. 



GROWING AND HANDLING TOMATOES IN THE FIELD. 



In the region about Miami, Fla., the seed beds are prepared as 

 early as the middle of September and are planted at intervals until 

 the early part of February in order to insure a steady supply of seed- 

 lings. In transplanting seedlings they are placed full length in the 

 furrow, the roots are covered with a handful of moist well-rotted 

 stable manure, and finally the whole stem, but not the leaves, is cov- 

 ered with loose soil. Commercial fertilizer is often used with the 

 manure. 



The soil upon which tomatoes are grown is essentially of an ever- 

 glade type and is covered with water during a portion of the summer. 

 For the past few years the moist soil and the danger of frost have 

 been serious handicaps to very early planting. To insure a crop of 

 tomatoes in case of frost many growers plant a portion of their 

 fields in hills. The seeds are planted over stable manure and com- 

 mercial fertilizer. After the seedlings appear the hills are thinned to 

 one plant, which is allowed to grow to 6 inches or more in height and 

 then bent down and covered with soil. The plants are 2 to 3 feet apart 

 in rows 6 feet apart. 



Commercial fertilizers are applied throughout the growing season 

 up to picking time. Where only one side of the row is cultivated 

 and the other allowed to grow in weeds, upon which the plants later 

 lean, the fertilizer is applied in furrows on the side which is cultivated. 

 About a week or 10 days after the plants are set out a small handful 

 of the fertilizer is placed on one side of each plant. Sometimes it 

 is covered with soil, but generally it is left uncovered. Ten days or 

 two weeks after the first application, more fertilizer is applied be- 

 tween the plants in the original planting furrow. A shallow furrow 

 is then turned to cover this fertilizer and also to support the plants 

 better. The third application is placed in the furrow made when 

 the second application was covered. The quantity is generally 

 larger than the first and second applications and is covered by a 

 new furrow. The fourth and final application is made in the same 

 way. Where the fertilizer is applied at one side only, two rows are 

 planted close together and between them weeds are allowed to 

 grow. Where fertilizer is applied to both sides of the plants the 



