132 PIGTOETAL PRAGTIGAL VEGETABLE GROWING. 



in view. Nor is it in the least degree necessary to push the 

 plants along in a great deal of heat, especially if outdoor culture 

 is the object. Experience teaches nae that if the plants grow 

 steadily during their early stages, it does not much matter if 

 they move rather slowly, and that the plant which is only 8 or 

 9 inches high when it is put out is just as likely to give a crop 

 as the 2-footer — if anything, rather more so. 



It is wise to avoid sprinkling the seeds, and instead to put 

 them in the soil one at a time, about 1 inch apart. This 

 effectually prevents crowding, which is the great bane of 

 Tomatoes. If plump and firm, nearly every one will germinate. 

 Use a box, a pot, or a pan, and cover not more than ^ inch. 

 A greenhouse shelf is a capital place for starting the seeds. I 

 have, however, had a good crop from plants started in a cold 

 frame ; and an acquaintance, who loves to do things in ways of 

 his own, and finds no pleasure whatever in anything that he has 

 to do like other people, always insists on sowing his seeds under 

 a south wall, in the open air, and covering them with upturned 

 pickle bottles. 



The seed vessels should be shaded until the plants come 

 through, not afterwards. The thin seeding does away with the 

 necessity for pricking off the plants early, and that in itself is 

 a grand thing, because shifting Tomatoes before they hav^e 

 formed a pair of rough leaves is just the thing to throw them 

 back. Each plant may be put into a 3-inch pot, and transferred 

 from that to a 5-inch, in which it may remain till planting out- 

 time in June. I may, however, say that with a view to saving 

 labour and pots, I have often pricked the plants straight away 

 4 inches apart into 4-inch deep boxes, and let them stay there 

 till June. This plan does not give the biggest plants, but they 

 are dwarf, stiff, and strong ; directly they are put out they go 

 ahead, and they invariably yield well. 



Many a stretch of fence or wall with a south aspect that now 

 goes bare every summer might be occupied profitably with 

 Tomatoes, and if the plants are put out 18 inches apart, the 

 shoots which start in the axils removed as fast as they form, and 

 the leading growth pinched at the top of the support, there will 

 he a crop. Or, ci course, they may be grown in the open, each 

 plant supported by a stout stake. 



Defoliation is, I consider, carried to extremes by some 

 growers. They cut off the leaves wholesale while the fruit is 

 still only half swollen and quite green. This is scarcely wise. 

 A certain amount of foliage is required, certainly on the upper 

 part of the plant, and the wisest course is to thin it by degrees. 

 Slice off half a leaf here, pick off one there, and so expose the 

 fruit and relieve the plant without ever imparting a complete 

 check. 



Tomato history has moved fast, and the recruit of ten years 

 {Continued on jmfjc 13GJ 



