The ideals of form and size; a smooth outline, the stalk set shallow and the basin not grooved. 
too large a portion for one person. 
Quality Tomatoes for the Home Garden—By L. and E. M. Barron 
Such truits can be sliced without waste. 
On the right Livingston’s Globe, on the left Stone 
Both good for family use, not 
New 
York 
PRACTICAL STANDARDS OF MERIT THAT SHOULD BE LOOKED FOR BY THE AMATEUR WHO WANTS THE 
BEST RESULTS ON HIS TABLE, IGNORING THE COMMON STANDARDS OF LARGE SIZE AND TOUGH SKIN 
ERHAPS more than any other vegetable, 
the tomato repays the home gardener 
for the trouble of growing. Quality in 
this particular delicacy is measured chiefly 
by cultural methods and condition of ripe- 
ness. The very best tomato is the result of 
strong young seedling plants kept growing 
from the very earliest stage right through to 
maturity without a check; grown with abun- 
dance of space, giving free circulation of air 
through and around the plant, plenty of sun- 
shine to give both color (which is appetizing), 
and sugar (which is an essential of high 
flavor). With these conditions satisfied, then 
there is this final factor—permitting the 
fruit to fully ripen on the parent stem, 
picking it at the acme of condition. An 
overripe tomato is mealy and deficient in 
flavor. 
There is extreme delight in gathering 
from your own garden fruits or vegetables 
the likes of which are impossible to the 
less fortunate who have to depend upon 
store supplies. Such fragile crops, for in- 
stance as the tomato, the strawberry, and 
other bush fruits, when grown properly, and 
gathered at their prime, can only be carried 
very short distances. They cannot with- 
stand the shaking and bruising that an ordi- 
nary journey entails. Small wonder therefore 
that the suburban home gardener revels in his 
quality tomatoes, and is ever ready to discuss 
methods and varieties with his neighbors. 
Unfortunately there has grown up a false 
standard of merit for Mr. Suburbanite. He 
glories over the immensity of his Ponderosa 
or Beefsteak, and accounts himself a master- 
hand at tomato culture if he can but get the 
better of his neighbor’s specimen by a fraction 
of an ounce. 
Our ideals are quite different. Quite in- 
dependently of what the flavor may be, we 
must confess a prejudice for a more moderate 
Growing the tomato plant to one or two stems toa 
staKe ensures free circulation of air, plenty of light, 
and better quality, clean fruits 
62 
sized fruit. From all standards one that is 
about two and a half inches diameter is the 
extreme of size for decent use. We want a 
tomato that will slice comfortably without 
having to divide the sections into odd shaped 
scraps; or, if the fruits are to be placed on the 
table whole, they ought to be of such size 
that the one fruit makes a suitable sized 
portion for one individual. 
The tomato, like some strawberries, be- 
comes red before it is really ripe. More than 
that, it can be picked before it is ripe, before 
it has even become thoroughly red, and kept 
in a warm place, it will greatly improve, and 
ripen up after a fashion. As a means of 
extending the tomato season into the late 
fall months, this is a valuable feature; but 
too often the desire to make things run along 
as easily as possible leads to the gathering of 
imperfectly ripened fruits during the summer 
months, just because they can be handled 
with greater freedom and less care. We 
even venture to think that many people who 
are growing their own tomatoes do not even 
yet realize the rich lusciousness of a well 
grown, properly ripened tomato! 
Taken all in all, there is very little intrinsic 
difference of flavor in different varieties. 
By this is meant that the range of flavor is 
very small—infinitely smaller, for instance, 
than it is among the dessert fruits. Still, 
there are some varieties that are better than 
others, and they have come to be universally 
known. But the merits of a variety for the 
home garden are measured not entirely by 
flavor. Cropping quality, color and sub- 
stance—that is to say, solidity—are equally 
important. 
