1286 The Vegetable Industry in New York State 



it does not yield as heavily. The chief objection to the Peerless 

 is that the fruit tends to be too small. With an English type of 

 tomato like the Peerless, one must feed the plant heavily in order 

 to get good-sized fruit, and the fruit clusters must be thinned to 

 six or seven fruits. 



The tomato plants are started in practically the same way as 

 the cucumber plants, with the exception that the seed is sown 

 more thickly in the drill. Also, the seedlings are usually pricked 

 out two by two inches in other plats before going to three- or four- 

 inch clay pots. It requires from ten to twelve weeks from time 

 of sowing seed to time for the plants to be placed in the perma- 

 nent bed, and about two months more for the plant to bear mature 

 fruit. 



The spacing distances vary greatly, most men allowing about 

 four or five square feet to a plant. The single stem system of 

 training is practiced almost entirely, all side shoots or laterals 

 being pinched off as soon as they appear. 



The disease which is giving most trouble with tomatoes is the 

 leaf mold or leaf blight, caused by a fungus, Cladosporium fulrum. 

 This fungus works on the lower leaves of the plants first, pro- 

 ducing dirty, grayish-brown, moldy or velvety spots on the under- 

 sides. Yellow spots appear on the Upper sides of the leaves. 

 Later, the entire leaf turns black, shrivels and dies. If this dis- 

 ease does not appear until the crop is half gathered, it will do little 

 harm. If it occurs early, the lower foliage should be sprayed with 

 bordeaux mixture 4-4-50. A few men in the state were able to 

 check this disease in their tomato houses this past fall by spraying 

 early enough. 



The fruit is harvested when it matures and most of it is mar- 

 keted locally, although during the fall, growers who are successful 

 ship to New York city and Philadelphia. 



The yields and returns vary greatly with different growers. 

 One grower using the Peerless variety secures an average yield in 

 spring of ten pounds per plant, or a little over five tons to a house 

 180 by 30 feet. This is exceptionally high. Most growers do not 

 average more than five or six pounds of fruit per plant. 



In spring tomatoes usually sell for from ten to fifteen cents a 

 pound, sometimes going as high as twenty cents in very early 

 spring. In late fall they command higher prices. 



