HORTICULTURE. 



THE TOMATO. 



There is no doubt that the tomato is increasing in public favour every 

 year. We find it grown on a scale so large now that one wonders where the 

 demand comes from. In America the tomato is one of the big industries both 

 as fruit and as a culinary vegetable. One has only to turn any of the American 

 grocery journals to find on what a large scale tomatos are grown. Indeed, it 

 is no exaggeration to state that the rise of the tomato in public favour is 

 unprecedented in the history or development of any other cultivated plant. 

 In the memory of many now living the tomato was hardly known, except as a 

 garden curiosity, and known to most people under the name of "Love Apple," 

 and was of small size and full of seeds. Few people ate it, as the sterling 

 qualities of the fruit were unknown. At the present time there are many scores 

 of varieties, from the small " grape" variety to the immense fleshy fruits, weighing 

 a pound apiece or more. The colours vary from a bright golden yellow to a 

 deep blood red, and the gradation in flavour is equally varied. No kitchen 

 garden, even in India, is considered complete without it, while thousands of 

 acres are given up to its cultivation in America and Australia. An immense 

 quantity of the fruit is used, both in the fresh state, and for sauce and other 

 purposes. In India the tomato has become a very popular vegetable, and is 

 cultivated on a fairly large scale, not only in private gardens, but by the market 

 gardener, and the quality of the produce is very good indeed. Any one who 

 has visited the horticultural exhibitions held at various centres in this country 

 must have been struck by the splendid quality of the tomato exhibits. A large 

 number of varieties is cultivated. 



The scientific name of the tomato is Solarium lycopersicum. It belongs 

 to the extensive Natural Order Solanaceae, which numbers among its members 

 the datura, the tobacco, potato, capsicums, the deadly night-shade and a host 

 of other plants used in medicine and as food. Its original home appears to have 

 been tropical America, but it has become almost indigenous in India. It is very 

 susceptible to cold, and a moderately frosty night in Upper India will destroy 

 it entirely. That is one reason why it is considered advisable to sow the seed 

 early in the season, so that the plants will have become well established and 

 hardened before the severe frosts set in. A soil rich in potash seems to suit 

 the tomato best. Wood ashes are very beneficial. 



There are various methods of cultivating the tomato, the commonest 

 being as an ordinary field crop ; but it has been found that grown thus it is 

 apt to make untidy growth ; the fruit often rests on the soil, and the plants 

 are more liable to insect and fungus attacks. From the results of numerous 

 experiments made on the growth of tomatos under glass by the authorities of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College, it appears that "undoubtedly the best system 

 of growing greenhouse tomatos is to plant 12 to 16 inches apart in the rows, prune 

 to the one stem system, and head in or cut back the leaders above the fourth 

 or sixth cluster of fruit, as circumstances require. . The physiological effects of 

 pruning or mutilating manifest themselves at first in the retardation or cessation 

 of the growth activities, which are eventually followed by an acclerated growth. The 

 degree of response is determined by the nature of the organs mutilated and the 

 extent of the injury." Growing on trellis work, or on stakes gives much better results 

 In fact, we have found the trellis system the best, and recommend it in preference 

 to all others. 



