THE 
GARDEN YARD 178 
and let the other grow naturally over the side 
of the barrel. Give a gallon of water a day to 
each barrel and you will raise enough tomatoes 
in the season for a family of four or five persons. 
The Iowa Experiment Station showed that un- 
trained tomato vines gave the smallest yield 
and the largest percentage of decayed fruit; 
that staked vines gave a much larger percentage 
of sound fruit and the least percentage of de- 
cayed fruit of the whole experiment; that 
hilling up did not give any striking results in 
any direction; and that, while mulching enor- 
mously increased the yield, it also greatly in- 
creased the tendency to rot. 
Because tomatoes suffer so from frost, it is 
wise to hasten fruiting by every means, but if 
frost strikes before the fruits are ripe, the large 
green ones may be picked and placed in drawers 
or other dry, close places to ripen. Generally 
they color well and develop a good quality. If 
the fruits have not reached full size, the whole 
plant may be pulled with the fruits on, and hung 
upside down in a barn or dry building, and they 
will continue to draw nourishment from the 
plant and sometimes ripen. 
From one ounce of seed you may expect from 
2000 to 2500 plants; if planted in hills three by 
four feet apart, an acre will require 3630 plants. 
