714 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



head, and do not leave air on when 

 the nights are what are termed 

 muggy — that is to say, warm and 

 moist. It is this kind of weather 

 that most favours the spread of the 

 Potato fungus, and during its pre- 

 valence those growing Tomatoes in 

 frames have the advantage over 

 open-air cultivators, as they can 

 and ought to keep their frames dry 

 and close. Where the pits are 

 heated, a little heat should be turned 

 •on during cold or wet weather, and 

 again when it is desirable to hasten 

 the ripening of the late fruit. The 

 late fruit in cold pits and frames 

 will generally ripen if cut in bunches 

 and hung up either in a forcing or 

 warm house or in the kitchen of a 

 dwelling-house." 



Market - Garden Culture. — 

 Outdoor Tomatoes in market-gar- 

 dens are not planted against walls, 

 as is done in private establishments ; 

 but a warm situation, convenient to 

 water, is selected for them in open 

 positions, and in such positions they 

 produce abundance of large, well- 

 coloured fruit. The earliest planted 

 ones are generally put in the most 

 favourable positions, such as a warm 

 border, or on either side of " spent " 

 Mushroom ridges, where they are 

 well sheltered. If planted too early, 

 they are liable to be cut down by late 

 spring frosts, in which case entire 

 removal and replanting is the remedy 

 usually applied ; if the damage be 

 not too great, however, the sound 

 eyes produce shoots that eventually 

 carry heavy crops. Early in spring 

 the seeds are sown broadcast in a 

 frame, in which a bed of fermenting 

 manure, covered with 6 in. of light 

 soil, has been placed. These frames 

 are protected during cold weather 

 by a covering of litter or mats placed 

 over the sashes ; but during favour- 

 able weather this is removed and air 

 is given, in order to render the 



young plants as strong, healthy, and 

 stubby as possible. If the plants 

 come up too thickly, they are 

 thinned, and when they are about 

 2 in. high they are pricked out 

 into 4 in. or 6 in. pots, two plants 

 being generally put into each pot. 

 Frames are sometimes prepared by 

 placing in them fermenting manure 

 in the form of a bed to the depth of 

 15 in., well trodden down, on which 

 are placed 8 in. of soil, and in such 

 beds pots filled with mould are 

 plunged up to the brim. The 

 plants are then dibbled into the 

 pots, and the frames shut up and 

 kept close for a time, until fresh 

 root-action has taken place. They 

 are afterwards kept freely ventilated 

 until May, when the sashes are 

 entirely removed during the day, 

 and replaced and tilted up at night 

 and in wet weather. During the 

 last week in May the plants are 

 thoroughly hardened off, although 

 still unable to endure even a slight 

 frost, and they are planted in warm 

 positions, as before stated, on Mush- 

 room ridges or similar places. As 

 soon as the fruit has attained its full 

 size, the leaves are turned aside so 

 as to expose it to the sun, by which 

 means it ripens more readily, and is 

 of better colour than when shaded. 

 The ripe fruits are generally picked 

 off twice a week, leaving the 

 greener ones a little longer, so as 

 to mature themselves ; but should 

 frost come, all fruits are picked off, 

 and spread out on hay in a frame 

 under sashes, where they eventually 

 become red. 



The Potato disease has often 

 played havoc with Tomatoes in the 

 market-gardens of London during 

 recent years. The winter and early 

 supply is to a great extent grown by 

 special growers in the warmer parts 

 of Sussex, and also in the Channel 

 Islands. 



