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Tomato Culture. 



[JULY, 



TOMATO CULTURE. 



J. Stoddart, 



Horticultural Inspector, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. 



As a comprehensive leaflet dealing with tomato culture is now 

 being prepared in the Horticultural Division of the Ministry, 

 it is not proposed to deal fully with the subject in this article. 

 Some points have therefore been selected which are not known 

 to or are overlooked by many tomato growers, or on which 

 opposing opinions are held. 



Local Conditions. — No hard or fast rule can be laid down 

 with regard to culture, as tomatoes are a crop which vary to an 

 extraordinary degree with local conditions. It is advisable, 

 on this account, for the grower carefully to observe and study 

 the methods and results of other cultivators in his district. 

 Varieties and methods which are quite successful in one part 

 of the country may be of much less economic value in another 

 part. Ruling climatic conditions, soil formations, etc., all have 

 some effect on the ultimate success of the crop. 



Soil and Sub-soil. — The habitat of most Solanums is a light 

 and sandy soil, and in tropical countries they thrive in such a 

 soil when other plants can scarcely gain a footing. This indi- 

 cates a light soil for artificial culture, and practice bears it 

 out. The ideal soil w^ould be a light loam of fair depth over 

 sand or gravel, or a well-drained alluvial soil. Heavy and suc- 

 cessful crops are grovm on brick- earth land where the drainage 

 is good. Clay soils should, if possible, be avoided, as they 

 predispose the crop to the many fungoid diseases for which 

 there are no remedies at present. Where clay soil must be 

 used, thorough drainage is essential, and the top soil should be 

 heavily limed and thus made rich in humus and of good tilth. 



Seed. — The proper selection of seed is easily the most impor- 

 tant item of tomato culture. As one ounce of seed may produce 

 £350 worth of fruit, the cost is of little importance so long as a 

 pure strain of the most suitable variety is obtained. There 

 are many excellent and well-tried market varieties offered, 

 but these should invaria,bly be purchased either from the 

 original raiser or some firm of seed growers of good repute. 

 The grower who, from motives of economy, saves his own seed, 

 often defeats his purpose, as accidental cross-fertilisation may, 

 in the course of a few years, take the strain clear away from the 

 original, and the imagined economy thus prove in the end a 

 considerable loss. 



