712 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



spots on it to fill them up with this 

 esculent. During May is the best 

 time to plant. They may be grown 

 and hardened off along with the 

 bedding Pelargoniums, and be 

 planted out at the same time. 

 Many who know them to be gross 

 feeders think they are doing right 

 in giving them a rich mixture to 

 root into ; but that is a mistake. 

 The harder and dwarfer the shoots 

 are the better. When grown in poor 

 soil they flower profusely, and be- 

 come most prolific. As soon as 

 plenty of fruits have been formed — 

 as form they undoubtedly will on all 

 plants grown in nothing but pure 

 loam — supply them with doses of 

 liquid manure. Pick off all young 

 shoots as they form, and a heavy 

 crop will be the result. Wherever 

 we have a bare strip on any part of 

 our walls — and these occur often be- 

 tween trees — we fork in a few shovel- 

 fuls of chopped-up turf, and in this 

 plant Tomatoes. Many of the plants 

 are pruned in to one stem only, and 

 none of them are allowed to have 

 more than two ; in fact, it is cordons 

 and not bushes on which we depend 

 for a profitable crop. When in poor 

 soil, they do not make side shoots 

 rapidly, but they should be looked 

 over frequently to take these off and 

 to nail up the main stem." 



In all the colder parts of these 

 islands, and where Tomatoes do not 

 thrive in the open air, we have a 

 great, but often neglected, sub- 

 stitute for a good climate in the 

 many pits and frames emptied of 

 bedding and other plants during 

 summer and early autumn. Mr. 

 Iggulden's practice is as follows : — 

 " I prefer pits with a single hot- 

 water pipe round, and which are 

 oftentimes devoted first or during 

 the winter to Bouvardias, then to 

 Kidney Beans during the spring 

 months, and subsequently to Melons 



or Cucumbers. If such a pit is 

 available it may well be devoted 

 to Tomatoes, and, failing this, 

 a cold pit or ordinary Potato- 

 frame will do nearly as well, as it 

 is protection from rain rather than 

 heat that is indispensable during the 

 summer and autumn. Supposing 

 these pits and frames, in addition to 

 perfecting the crops of Potatoes, are 

 also required for the preparation of 

 summer bedding plants, the best 

 plan will be to have a number of 

 strong Tomato-plants, with perhaps 

 a cluster of fruit already set, ready 

 to plant, say, by the end of May. 



" A bed previously devoted to 

 early Potatoes just suits Tomatoes, 

 and needs no preparation beyond 

 the addition of a little manure to 

 the soil. If a bed has to be made 

 specially for them, a quantity of old 

 heating material may be used, add- 

 ing to this sufficient fresh to cause 

 the whole to become just warm 

 enough to give the Tomatoes a 

 good start. Better, however, a small 

 bed of half-decayed manure than a 

 heap of material that has heated 

 itself dry, as in the latter case the 

 small amount of loamy soil on the 

 surface of the bed is all the plants 

 would have to support them. The 

 depth of the manure in the pits 

 must be regulated according to the 

 depth of the walls, but any amount 

 from I to 3 ft. will be ample, as the 

 frames can be raised. The beds 

 may be made of any height, so long 

 as the heap does not become very 

 hot. Over the manure place a layer 

 about I ft. in depth of rich loamy 

 soil, and if the loam is rough and 

 fibrous, so much the better. Keep 

 the lights of the frames or pits on 

 closely, and when the sunshine or 

 bottom heat has warmed the soil, 

 plant at once. 



" In pits and deep frames a con- 

 siderable number of plants may be 



