334 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



in the form of surface dressings, the first soon 

 after the plants are put out, and another a 

 month or six weeks later. 



Where so many thousands of plants are re- 

 quired they must necessarily be prepared for 

 putting out in quite small pots, also taking care 

 not to raise them long in advance of planting- 

 out time, or starvelings will be the result. 

 Where spring frosts often occur as late as the 

 third week in May, planting -out should not 



! 



Fig. 1112.— Stout end Stake, with Tomato 

 Plant, showing type usually planted by 

 market-growers. 



1113.— Bamboo Cane, with Tomato 

 Plant turned out of 6-inch pot. 



commence before that time; but in the more 

 favoured localities planting is frequently com- 

 menced about the middle of May, starting with 

 well-hardened plants. 



The most profitable arrangement is to dis- 

 pose the plants 15 inches apart in rows 3 feet 

 apart, confining them to single stems; but if 

 the requisite number of plants cannot be raised, 

 it is more economical to put them out 20 inches 

 to 2 feet apart, and lay in a second growth 

 from each, keeping both primary and secondary 

 stems free of side-shoots. At the ends of the 

 rows extra stout stakes (see fig. 1112), and at 

 intervals of 12 to 20 feet lighter stakes, should 

 be driven in. These are for the purpose of 

 straining and supporting one length of No. 16 

 gauge galvanized wire 3 feet from the ground. 

 (See figs. 1112 and 1113.) Each plant should 

 be supported by a 4-foot bamboo cane fastened 

 at the top to the wire. This forms an admir- 



able trellis for the plants, and may be used 

 several years in succession if duly stored in the 

 winter. 



In all other respects the treatment of Toma- 

 toes for market should be much the same as 

 advised in the case of garden crops. ' It should 

 be added that occasional waterings are needed 

 by all open-air plants till such times as they 

 are growing strongly, after which a mulching 

 of short manure or leaf-soil will be all that is 

 further necessary during the aver- 

 age summer. During exception- 

 ally hot and dry seasons plants 

 in comparatively poor soil, and 

 heavily-cropped, are improved by 

 an occasional good soaking of 

 water or liquid manure. 



Cultivation under Glass. 



Tomatoes can be successfully 

 grown in houses either with stove 

 plants in the coldest half of the 

 year, or with greenhouse plants 

 in the summer; they are also fre- 

 quently seen in satisfactory condi- 

 tion in houses with either Melons, 

 Cucumbers, Grape-vines, or Peach- 

 trees. Where separate structures 

 can be afforded them there is a far 

 greater likelihood of their suc- 

 ceeding than when they are grown 

 with other plants. They are less 

 liable to disease, and crop the 

 most heavily, when kept constantly 

 in a dry, buoyant atmosphere, and 

 this does not suit most of the other kinds of 

 fruit and plants named. High temperatures, 

 accompanied by a moist atmosphere, have been 

 the cause of very many failures. Even if the 

 first or second bunches of flowers are followed 

 by a good set of fruit, the disease, when it has 

 once effected a lodgment on the foliage, spreads 

 so rapidly as to practically spoil the crop. 



The various diseases to which the Tomato 

 is liable — and one intelligent grower living in 

 the neighbourhood of Bath asserts he counted 

 no less than ten forms of disease on his plants 

 during one summer — makes its culture partake 

 somewhat of a lottery at all times, and par- 

 ticularly so in mixed houses. It is, therefore, 

 desirable to keep them by themselves in a house 

 as much as possible, or to locate them where 

 they can be given more air than the other 

 occupants of the house require. 



Pot-grown Plants. — The earliest supplies of 



