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TOMATOES 



something you are not ashamed to let the people consume. 

 The others may do for the canning factory. 



Mr. Coleman: I do not stake any. I do not think it is 

 profitable in a large way. 



Mr. Cook : I wish to say that we grow some of the finest 

 tomatoes that ever grew outdoors in our section of the coun- 

 try, and they grow right on the ground. We have fine quality 

 tomatoes. Our test for this would be to plant the tomatoes 

 at the same time, those on the stakes and those on the ground. 

 Then make a test as to earliness. I do not believe the stake 

 men can beat us on the ground fifteen minutes. Our ground 

 is a gravelly loam. 



Mr. Wilkinson: Do you not think they could beat you 

 in this way, that you have to place your tomatoes four by 

 five feet apart or so, and they plant at a smaller distance 

 apart? 



Mr. Cook: Our early tomatoes are planted about three 

 and one-half by four. With canning tomatoes, it is a differ- 

 ent proposition. We grow lots of tomatoes up there that we 

 have sold as high as a dollar and a half for a twenty-pound 

 basket, and we have been able to get that price for ten days 

 or two weeks. No tomatoes grovm on stakes. 



A Member: I have grown them both ways. Mine are a 

 great deal better on the stakes, and I think more than ten 

 days earlier in our location. We are on a rather heavy clay 

 soil. We save a great deal in cleaning the tomatoes, and the 

 difference in time. Instead of getting a dollar and a half for 

 a twentynpound basket for these early tomatoes, we get fifteen 

 cents a pound and get that for about ten days. After that, 

 the price goes down quite rapidly. In those ten days or two 

 weeks, we can sell all the tomatoes we can get. 



Mr. Wilkinson: I was talking with a grower from 

 Canada the other day, and he does not believe in staking at 

 all. He is able to compete very successfully with the men in 

 Ohio, who stake. I think the question is probably local and 

 depends greatly upon the man. 



Mr. Haw: I think a good deal depends upon climate. 



