48 Tedok Geowing in the South. 



Setting. 

 As this crop will not stand a temperature lower than 

 33 under ordinary conditions, the beds must be protected 

 from early frost. As the question of earliness is impor- 

 tant with tomatoes, in many cases it is advisable to trans- 

 plant four inches' apart and hold the plants in the trans- 

 planted bed imtil twelve inches high. The plants should 

 be taken up with a pronged hoe, in order to get all the soil 

 possible with the roots. If the ground is not low, a fur- 

 row should be opened with four-inch scooter, the ground 

 being previously fertilized. Holes four inches deep 

 should be punched behind the plow, large enough to admit 

 the roots of the plants, the plowman walking outside the 

 furrow. A boy comes behind the plow, places the plants 

 in bottom of holes, and a hand comes behind and pours 

 about one-third of a pint of water on the edge of the hole, 

 washing the soil over the roots. If ^tiff clay soil is 

 planted, water should be poured in and the dirt pressed 

 back with the heel. This pressing is, however, un- 

 necessary in sandy soil. This method of setting is the 

 best and cheapest known to the writer, after having tried 

 them all. However if the ground is thoroughly wet, and 

 plants are well rooted, they may be dropped in the fur- 

 row and one inch of soil pulled over the root, and the 

 sole of the shoe pressed hard directly on the root. This 

 method can be followed only after a good season, and the 

 writer never recommends setting tender plants after a 

 rain. Early in the spring (owing to the fact that cold 

 snaps generally follow rain at that season) your plants 

 should be set in warm weather, when the ground is warm, 

 and they will take root immediately. 



