276 VEGETABLE FORCING 
size, preferably short and stocky, and rooted in sharp 
sand. If a little bottom heat is provided, the cuttings 
will root in five or six days, when they can be potted and 
grown to proper size for planting in the beds. The few 
experiments which have been made seem to indicate that 
plants propagated from June cuttings are not as prolific 
as those grown from seed, so that no advantage in gen- 
eral cropping is gained by using cuttings. There are in- 
stances, however, when it is desirable to perpetuate a 
stock of choice plants, and this can be done only by means 
of cuttings. If an unusually fine plant is found, seed 
should be saved from it for testing, and additional trials 
may be made of the plants rooted from cuttings. 
Plants large enough for the beds or benches may be 
grown in much less time from cuttings than from seed, 
but this is probably of no value from a commercial view- 
point, because seedlings require so little space until they 
are large enough for potting. It is simply a question of 
sowing early enough to grow plants of proper size for 
planting in the beds at the desired time. 
Starting plants—The proper time of sowing depends 
upon a number of factors: (1) Ifarliness of the variety. 
Some varieties require nearly a month longer than others 
to mature fruit. Bonny Best sown July 1 in central 
Pennsylvania produced a few ripe specimens October 11. 
Stone probably would have produced no ripe tomatoes 
before November 1. (2) Amount of sunshine. There is 
more bright, sunny weather in some sections than in 
others, and there is much more sunshine late in the winter 
and spring than during the fall and early winter. Prob- 
ably four or five weeks more time would be required to 
mature Bonny Best sown November 15 than for the same 
variety started February 1. (3) Temperature of the 
house. High temperatures, especially when the plants 
are young, necessarily shorten the time from seed sowing 
until the ripening period. (4) Market demands. This 
question should have most careful consideration. For 
