260 TOMATO. 



mand the best prices, and hence there is a great desire to get 

 them early. "We douht, however, if on the whole it pays our 

 farmers to provide the necessary hot-beds and sash required to 

 grow a crop of very early Tomatoes, because such are the facilities 

 for transportation in these days of steam, that the more Southern 

 grower suppUes the earliest Tomatoes in spite of all we can do, 

 and by the time we can possibly get ours ripe, the price is so 

 materially affected by the supply from more sunny latitudes, that 

 the pay is not an adequate return for the investment. 



Those, however, who are very anxious to get Tomatoes as 

 early as possible, should provide themselves with a hot-bed about 

 the middle of March, varying somewhat as to date according to 

 the locality and the season, placed ia some spot weU sheltered 

 from the prevailing cold winds. In this the seed should be 

 sown in drills about three inches apart, not too thickly, and the 

 sash kept close imtU the plants appear. As soon as they begio 

 to show the second leaf they should have plenty of air whenever 

 the weather will permit, taking care at the same time that they do 

 not get chilled. In about three weeks it will be necessary to have 

 some more hot-beds ready into which to transplant the Tomato 

 plants, setting them about four or five inches apart each way. A 

 sash wiU hold about fifty plants when thus transplanted, conse- 

 quently two sashes will be required for every hundred ; and as 

 an acre holds some five thousand plants, fifty sashes will be 

 needed to grow enough for an acre. After they have been trans- 

 planted, the same care will be required as before, giving water 

 when needed, and sufiSicient air to make the plants strong and 

 healthy. We think the better way for us to proceed is to wait 

 untn later in the season, say about the tenth of April, before 

 sowing, and then during the first week of May they might be 

 transplanted into a bed of ground made very rich, well exposed to 

 the sun, and well sheltered from winds, and so arranged, that, at 

 night and in very chilly weather they can be covered with boards. 

 The best way would be to make a frame on the sides, as if for sash, 

 and lay the boards across the sides of the frame. As the plants 



