378 



It is not advisable to add too much organic material in the shape 

 of decaj^ed cowmanure or artificial manures to the soil at present as 

 this induces too rank growth and very little blossom. 



Place a stout stake to each plant sloping the stake slightly out- 

 wards to allow free acess of air to the centre of the pot, tying each 

 stem loosely to its stake when necessar3^ If at any time the plant 

 suffers from lack of water then poor results will be obtained, so that 

 it is essential to see that they are thoroughly watered when necessary. 



Opinions differ as to whether the side shoots ought to be removed 

 or not, and as far as I have seen it is immaterial which method is 

 adopted in this country, but in many cases it has been a decided 

 advantage to leave as many of the side shoots as possible,, provided 

 sufficient light and air has access to the centre of the plant. When 

 the fruit has set liberal waterings of liquid cowmanure, occasional 

 weak solutions of guano or any other well-known manure are very 

 beneficial. If, however, when potting into the lO or 12 inch pots, the 

 pots are only filled up to within 2 inches of the rim, a mulching of 

 decayed cowmanure may now be given. 



This then is a rough diary of the work in connection with the 

 growing of Tomatoes were everything plain sailing, but it must be 

 remembered that nearly every plant when cultivated on a large or 

 small scale is liable to attacks of insect pests and diseases of all sorts 

 som.e time or other. The tomato is no exception to this, in fact 

 rather the reverse. From the time of sowing of the seed one has to 

 be continually on the outlook for pests and for the benefi^t of those 

 who have tried and failed to grow the Tomato I will briefly mention 

 some of them and methods to be adopted in combating them. 



The Damping off fungus ( Pythiufn de Baryamini, Hesse). 



When plantlets (usually in the seedling stage) fall over the die, 

 damping off is said to have taken place. This is due to the presence 

 of too much moisture in the soil and also keeping the seedling pans 

 in too dark and insufficiently airy a situation. 



Preventative means : — Thoroughly drain the seed pans or pots 

 and remove them immediately the seed show signs of germination to 

 a light, airy situation. The fungus cannot spread or be produced 

 unless water is constantly present in the soil in excessive quantities, 



Sleepy-Disease {Fusarium Lycopersici, Sacc). 



The first indication of a tomato plant being attacked by this 

 disease is the drooping of the leaves and their bad colour, the older 

 leaves being attacked first. If a badly affected plant be pulled up, 

 the roots will be found to be decayed, but if a plant, on the first sign 

 of being attacked, is lifted carefully to avoid breaking the smaller 

 roots, it will be seen that many of the lateral rootlets are in a decayed 

 condition though the main root may be quite sound. The disease is 



