260 



Soldnaceous Fruits 



too tall and " leggy," although this is not the best practice. 

 In the Middle and Southern States, cloth-covered frames 

 arg often used for starting tomato and otheip plants. The 

 cloth is rolled up in the day. 



In New York, seeds are sown in hotbed or house about 



the middle of March or first 

 of April for field culture. 

 If sown too early the plants 

 become too tall and weak 

 and they may be pot-bound. 

 A good plant for transplant- 

 ing should be short and 

 stocky, and in vigorous 

 growing condition. Very 

 long-stemmed lopping 

 plants are sometimes 

 _ planted deep and the bare 

 stem buried slanting; roots will form along the buried 

 stem. In Figs. 145, 146, the seeds and seedlings are seen. 



Training and pruning. 



Tomatoes usually give earlier and better results when the 

 vines are trained ; but the expense of training precludes its 

 use in large commercial plantations. The best mode of 

 training for early results is to prune the plant to a single 

 stem, tying it to a perpendicular cord. The cord is se- 

 cured at 'top and bottom to horizontal strands stretched 

 between strong stakes. When tomatoes are thus trained, 

 they may be set as close as 18 inches in the row. 



There are various styles of racks for supporting the to- 

 raato plants. The best are those that give the plants full 



148. Pear tomato (X 1/5). 



