LEADING VEGETABLE CROPS 233 



the plants should be shifted to pots of larger size 

 when the soil becomes well filled with roots; and 

 when grown in the beds it is usually necessary to 

 give at least one shift to greater distances apart in 

 order that strong, stocky plants may be ready for 

 field planting. Grown in this manner the plants are 

 frequently from lo to 15 inches high, usually carry- 

 ing a number of blooms, and in many cases small 

 tomatoes, by time for transplanting. By care- 

 ful transplanting to field conditions, selecting rainy 

 or cloudy days or confining the transplanting to the 

 late afternoon and evening, these large plants may 

 be started without the loss of fruits and blooms, 

 which will mature very early. Where the plants 

 are kept for a considerable length of time after 

 the seed has been sown in the greenhouse they 

 often become too tall for the best results when 

 transplanted in the ordinary way. The objection 

 to such plants is largely overcome by plowing or 

 digging a furrow three to five inches deep in which 

 the root and stem are placed and covered until only 

 six or eight inches of the leafy tip remains above 

 the ground. Roots readily develop from the buried 

 stem, thus quickly increasing the feeding surface 

 and hastening growth. The plants for the mid- 

 season or late crop are often started from seed sown 

 out of doors. They are not generally transplanted 

 until taken from the seed bed to the field. Such 

 plants are lacking in vigor, but when transplanting 

 is done under favorable conditions in well-prepared 

 soil, they will usually give good results. 



The plants grown for the early markets are nearly 

 always trained in some manner. The most popular 

 method of training is to drive a stake for each plant. 

 This stake should be from one to two inches in 

 diameter and about five feet in length. It is driven 



