TOMATOES 



211 



Mr. Hunter: Would they whip more than on stakes? 



Mr. Wilkinson : I think so. You have a large body 

 exposed where wire is used, but with an individual stake there 

 would be less surface. 



Mr. Ha\\ (Onondaga County) : I saw last spring a wire 

 fence with six or eight inch mesh. 



Mr. Clum : I have seen a row twenty rods long grown on 

 a hog fence. It was a success as far as the growing of the 

 tomatoes was concerned, but the fence was altogether too 

 much. 



Mr. Wilkinson: The cost of stakes per acre: With three 

 thousand seventy-five stakes, they would cost about a cent 

 apiece. They are five feet long or a little longer. The cost 

 of placing those stakes is eleven dollars and eighty-five cents. 

 The annual expense with those stakes would not amount to 

 much more than twenty or twenty-two dollars for placing 

 the stakes and for loss of poor stakes. Then, there must be 

 added the cost of removing the stakes again and storing, 

 probably a matter of twelve or fifteen dollars. So you have 

 a total expense of close to thirty-five dollars. 



Mr. Clum : Can you get stakes in New York State for a 

 cent apiece? 



Mr. Wilkinson: Mill edge is the thing to use. 



Mr. Coleman: Hop poles would be good, wouldn't they? 



Mr. Clum: Just the thing. 



Mr. Haw: We use alder, but they last only about two 

 years. 



Mr. Cook (Chautauqua County) : I would like to ask if 

 any of the growers who have been following the plan of stak- 

 ing tomatoes have also grown them on the ground at the 

 same time and have arrived at any conclusion as to the ripen- 

 ing of the tomatoes. 



Mr. Clum : About a week or ten days ahead of the ground 

 tomatoes. 



A Member: I have noticed just about that difference. 



Mr. Clum : When you get them off the stakes, you have 



