TOMATOES FOR MARKET AND CANNING 



99 



be taken in applying this to keep it two or three inches from the 

 plant. I have seen plants badly burnt where this was applied 

 carelessly. 



Cultivation should start at once, giving at least two or three 

 hoeings, and we generally get over the field once or twice a week, 

 with horse and cultivator. Cultivation is kept up until there is 

 danger of knocking the fruit off the vines. 



PREPARING FOR MARKET 



In picking tomatoes for market, one should handle them very 

 carefully, never dropping or throwing them into the baskets. The 

 Earliana cracks very badly at times, being a thin-skinned tomato, 

 and for this reason we keep them picked very closely. We use 

 twenty pound Climax baskets for shipping. These are taken to the 

 field, and are used only once for picking. When filled, they are 

 drawn to the packing house, where the packers sit at benches, which 

 are constructed for this purpose. Then the tomatoes are wiped, 

 stemmed, and packed three layers in a basket. All cracked and 

 inferior ones are thrown out. The baskets should be well filled, and 

 when properly packed are level full — the top being faced. Where 

 several packers are at work, an attendant places the unpacked baskets 

 on the benches, removing and covering the packed ones. 



For shipping they should be picked before getting very ripe, 

 and when going to distant markets in warm weather, half green stock 

 is what we want. They should be properly graded, the ripest ones 

 being packed separately, and shipped to nearby markets. Our first 

 ones are shipped in July to nearby markets, and good prices are 

 usually obtained, until they become quite plentiful in August, when 

 we commence to load cars for distant markets. Weather being 

 very warm at this time of the year, and tomatoes ripening very fast, 

 your car should be iced at least ten hours before loading, and re-iced 

 before leaving; and if market is quite a distant one, the railroad 

 company should be instructed to "Keep car well iced." We have 

 shipped them a thousand miles or more, having them arrive in fine 

 condition for market, and selling for double the price our nearby 

 markets were getting at that time. The business is somewhat 

 speculative, and it is almost impossible to ship them at certain times 

 at a fair profit. When the gluts occur, they are generally sold to 

 nearby canners. As with everything else in the produce line, the 

 market is better at some times, than at others; and taking the average 

 price for the season, shipping has proven quite profitable. 



