January 22, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



37 



Cultivation of the Tomato. 



HTHE Tomato is an annual, a native of tropical America, and 

 -*- under normal conditions completes its cycle of life in 

 from one hundred and fifty to two hundred days. For the first 

 ninety to one hundred and twenty days the plant gains at a 

 constantly increasing rate in size and vigor, acquiring a sort of 

 momentum of growth, and then commences to mature its 

 fruit, expending more and more of its strength in this way until 

 the plant becomes exhausted and dies. The preliminary accu- 

 mulation of vital energy is essential to perfect fruitfulness, and 

 if it is not established or is lost through a check in growth the 

 plant will endeavor to develop it by extending the growing 

 period into that in which under normal conditions its undi- 

 vided energy would be expended in the production of fruit. 

 A temperature of about seventy degrees in full sunlight is 

 essential to the best development of the plant during the grow- 

 ing period, and one ten degrees higher is most favorable for 

 the maturing of the fruit, and the plant will not thrive if either 

 the air or soil is much colder. As in its native home favorable 

 conditions of heat and moisture are during the growing sea- 

 son very constant, we are not surprised to find that the plant 

 has little ability to endure unfavorable conditions. In a tem- 

 perature of forty-five degrees or less, either of the soil or air, 

 the plant not only will not grow, but will lose vigor and vital 

 energy, the injury being proportioned to the duration rather 

 than the degree of cold, although a freezing temperature for 

 an hour will kill it. 



In the latitude of Detroit the average temperature at noon is 

 notas high as seventy degrees until about June 1st, and it is 

 only during August and September that the average noon 

 temperature reaches eighty degrees. It is thus evident that 

 in order to secure a perfect development of the Tomato in 

 this latitude we must extend the season artificially, and the 

 only practical way to do this is to start the young plants under 

 glass. If we sow the seed about April 10th, supply the neces- 

 sary conditions of light, air and heat to secure a natural, 

 healthy and vigorous growth, the seedlings will be as large as 

 it is practicable to transplant byjuneist, which is as early 

 as favorable conditions of soil and air can be expected, and if 

 we then set out the plants without seriously checking their 

 growth they will reach their full size and acquire the vital 

 energy necessary to the production of a maximum crop of 

 fruit by July 20th or August 1st — as soon, that is, as favorable 

 weather for the ripening of the fruit can be expected. The 

 common practice is to plant the seed much earlier, often as 

 early as March 1st ; this gives ninety days before the conditions 

 are such as to make it safe to set the plants in the open ground, 

 and if the plants grow naturally they would reach their full 

 size and be far too large for transplanting without most serious 

 check. On the other hand, to grow the plants so slowly that 

 at the end of ninety days they are still of a size suitable for 

 transplanting, is to fail to develop any of that momentum of 

 growth which is essential to perfect fruitfulness. Such plants 

 can never in our climate give a maximum crop of fruit, though 

 they may reach full size. 



It seems, then, that a careful consideration of the character 

 of the plant and the climatic conditions we have to meet will 

 lead to the adoption of the following as the best method of 

 adjusting them : Sow the seed between April 1st and 10th in 

 boxes of light, loose soil, kept at a temperature of about sixty 

 degrees and moderately moist. As soon as the plants have 

 started true leaves, transplant into small pots or other boxes ; 

 if in boxes, they should contain three to five inches in depth 

 of light rich soil, and the plants should be set four inches apart 

 each way. If pots are used, the plants should be repotted into 

 larger ones often enough to prevent their becoming pot-bound. 

 A day temperature of sixty to seventy-five degrees should be 

 maintained, with the soil and air moderately but constantly 

 moist. Above all, an abundance of light and air must be pro- 

 vided, a necessity which makes a special hotbed, or a well- 

 protected cold-frame where the soil has been well warmed up, 

 a better place to grow plants than a greenhouse. In the mean 

 time the ground where the plants are to be set should be 

 thoroughly prepared by first a deep cultivation, then an evenly 

 spread dressing of well-rotted manure, which should be well 

 worked in. Plowing or spading and cultivating should fol- 

 low, and after an interval of a few days another cultivation as 

 deep as possible, and the land should again be cultivated just 

 before setting the plants. The purpose of this is to form a 

 deep bed of well-warmed and friable soil in which the finely 

 divided fertilizer shall be well mixed, and which will retain as 

 much as possible of the spring rains. This thorough prepa- 

 ration of the soil is the prime secret of successful Tomato cul- 

 ture, and it is much cheaper and better to do the necessary 

 deep cultivation before the plants are set. In this latitude the 



danger of cold storms is rarely over, and the soil is rarely 

 warm enough to warrant the setting of plants before June 1st, 

 and where the ground is well prepared and the plants well 

 grown there is no advantage in putting them out till the con- 

 ditions are favorable for rapid growth. 



Give the plants but little water, barely enough to prevent 

 wilting, for four or five days before, and a liberal watering two 

 or three hours before setting. In putting out the plants be 

 careful to save as many of the roots as possible and to get 

 them into the ground in a natural position without being 

 kinked or crowded together, and, if it is practicable to do so, 

 soak the ground about the plant after setting, but if this is done 

 care should be taken to draw some dry earth over the wet soil, 

 so as to prevent its baking and cracking. A few days after the 

 plants are set stir the surface soil with a hoe or rake, and 

 repeat this every few days as long as the size of the plants will 

 permit. If the preparation of the ground has been thorough 

 there will be no need of deeper cultivation, which would do 

 more harm than good. If a smaller quantity of extra-fine fruit 

 is preferred to a larger yield of that which is simply good, it 

 will be better to stake or trellis the plants. For this purpose 

 we have found nothing better than four two-inch square stakes, 

 about six feet long, driven into the ground in a square of 

 about sixteen inches around the plants. From four to six 

 branches are allowed to grow up within the space enclosed 

 (the others being removed as they appear), and are held therein 

 by strings around the stakes, kept in place by occasional tacks. 

 We think, however, that, except in very heavy and wet soils, 

 more satisfactory results will be secured from unpruned plants 

 which are allowed to rest on the ground. 



Detroit, Mich. Will IV. Tracy. 



Winter-flowering Begonias. 



T3EG0NIA, Dr. Nacthingale, is a garden hybrid, evidently 

 *-* closely related to B. nitida. Like that plant, it is deliciously 

 fragrant. Its habit is better than the type, being less angular. 

 The panicles and also the individual flowers are larger and 

 of a clear bright rose-color. It is very floriferous, never at 

 any time being out of bloom. 



After two years I have succeeded in growing well-flowered 

 plants of the distinct and beautiful hybrid known as Gloire de 

 Sceaux. A figure of it appears on page 185, vol. vii., of 

 Garden and Forest, which, as stated in the accompanying 

 description, does not do it justice. It is a neatly growing 

 bushy plant, about a foot and a half high, well furnished with 

 nearly orbicular, deep bronzy green leaves. The flowers 

 appear near the ends of the branches in short scape-like pani- 

 cles, and, unlike most of the shrubby kinds, the male flowers 

 are the largest, showiest and most persistent. The flowers are 

 clear pink, sepals and petals rounded, and nearly equal in size. 

 This is the only characteristic of the pollen parent, Begonia 

 Socotrana, visible. In foliage and general habit it resembles 

 its seed parent, B. subpeltata. We grow it in good rich loam 

 with plenty of drainage and in a shady position in a greenhouse 

 at an intermediate temperature. 



Begonia Haageana is a very interesting and beautiful spe- 

 cies, evidently related to B. Scharffiana. It makes a handsome 

 specimen plant, whether in bloom or not. The leaves are 

 light bronzy green, irregularly ovate, tapering and covered on 

 both sides with a rather bristly pubescence of reddish brown 

 hairs. It flowers sparingly all the year round in large rambling 

 panicled cymes of light pink flowers. Both the sepals and 

 petals in both the male and female flowers are covered on the 

 outer surface with brownish hairs, a character not common 

 among Begonias. Outside this type the only other kind I 

 remember with this peculiarity is the well-known B. metallica. 



Begonia Credneri is another of these hairy kinds. The whole 

 plant is stouter, with a more deeply bronzed tint. The leaves 

 are rounder and more bluntly pointed. The inflorescence is 

 quite erect ; the flowers nearly white, and almost covered on 

 the outside of the sepals and petals, and the ovary with bright 

 red hairs. It is quite as handsome a plant as B. Haageana, but 

 not so free in growth. 



Paul Bruant, a short-jointed, erect-growing, bushy kind, with 

 irregularly cordate, deeply cut and wavy deep green leaves, [s 

 one of the best I know of, for window decoration. The flow- 

 ers occur in large drooping panicles, reddish pink in color. 

 Only the female flowers are persistent, and with large red- 

 winged ovaries make a very pretty effect. I have known a 

 plant to remain well in bloom for six weeks in an ordinary 

 house window. 



When Mr. Veitch, of London, was here a year ago, he was 

 surprised to see large, well-flowered specimens of one of their 

 recent hybrids. President Carnot. It is a robust-growing 

 hybrid, and had been a small plant the spring previously. 



