TOMATOES. 289 



will often make a difference of two or three hundred 

 dollars on an acre. To gain this time, practical 

 gardeners make nse of every means to hasten the 

 ripening. Transplanting the plants two or three 

 times before setting them in the field has a tendency 

 to bring about this result, and this system is general- 

 ly adopted by the best cultivators. 



Within the last six or seven years, Tomatoes have 

 been grown in some of the Southern States, and 

 shipped North in such quantities, as to create, what 

 might be termed, a panic among Northern growers. 

 Those sent from points south of Virginia usually 

 arrive in damaged condition, owing to the careless 

 picking and packing of many of the Southern grow- 

 ers, and they have not, so far, conflicted with the in- 

 terests of Northern gardeners. But Norfolk, Ya., 

 and Delaware Tomatoes, are now sent into New 

 York and other Northern markets, almost as fresh as 

 those grown in New Jersey or on Long Island. 

 Large quantities coming from these sources, have re- 

 duced the profits of Northern growers. 



In growing Tomatoes for market, the frames 

 form a very important but at the same time a very 

 expensive item. At least from six to eight thou- 

 sand plants can be grown in a seed-bed (full direc- 

 tions for which will be found under Hot-Beds) ; these, 

 however, must be transplanted into other frames, piit- 

 ting only sixty plants to a sash, and when they are 

 set in place in the field four by four, this would take 

 two thousand seven hundred and twenty-two plants 

 to an acre, and from forty to fifty sashes. 



There are hundreds of acres of Tomatoes grown 



