136 



BIGGLE GARDEN BOOK 



set about three feet apart in the row. Or, if yon 

 want a high, thick fence or screen (as shown in the 

 back-yard picture on next page), the plants may be 



-«:^ 



A BARE TOWN BACK YARD. BEFORE AND — AFTER 

 VSEE NEXT picture; 



set about two feet apart and trained up on a six- 

 foot-high netting or trellis. Large fields are some- 

 times set 4x4 feet {2,/22 plants to the acre) and 

 cultivated both ways. A light, loamy soil is best for 

 early tomatoes. A picture on page 138 shows a 

 gardener applying fertilizer to hills in furrows : a 

 little ■ rotted stable manure has previously been 

 placed where each hill or plant is to be. This gar- 

 dener afterward sets the plants over each enriched 

 hill (his helper with a hoe first mixes soil with the 

 hill of fertilizer and manure, puts more soil on top, 

 and makes an opening for the plant). After each 

 plant is set the soil is firmly trodden around it with 

 the feet ; the furrow, between hills, is either filled 

 with the hoe as the planting progresses, or the filling 

 is done by cultivating crosswise after the entire field 

 is set. 



The after cultivation should be thorough and 

 regular. When the vines are large enough to need 

 support they should be tied loosely to stakes about 



