By Joseph Sabine, Esq. 3 r> 



The editors of the Bon Jardinier* describe the Tomato as 

 coming originally from Mexico, but I am not aware of any 

 authority for this statement ; for though Hernandez-)' de- 

 scribes it, he does not particularly distinguish it as a native 

 of Mexico. 



I am indebted to our worthy member Mr. John Wilmot, 

 of Isleworth, for the following account (dated 31st Decem- 

 ber, 1818) of his cultivation and crops of the plant in ques- 

 tion : " My method of cultivating the Tomato is as follows. 

 In the beginning of March, I sow a quantity of the seed in 

 the Pine stove,J the plants in a few days are fit to be put out 

 into shallow pans of about a foot in diameter, which are filled 

 with fine sifted mould ; about fifty plants are put into each 

 pan, they are well supplied with water, are kept a few days 

 in the Pine-house, and then removed into a cooler situation, 

 until the beginning of April ; I then pot these plants singly 

 into sixty-sized pots, in which they continue until the season 

 admits of their being put out ; which is not until the begin- 

 ning of May, at which period little injury from frost, which is 

 fatal to the plants, will occur ; they are planted into rich 

 earth, at the foot of the banks where Endive and Lettuce 

 grew the preceding winter, about four feet asunder; they 

 require very little, if any, water, when planted out, the 

 ground at that period being sufficiently moist to enable them 

 to root well ; as soon as they begin to shoot, I prepare pegs 



* Bon Jardinier pour Fannee 1S18, page 240. 

 f Hernandez' Hist. Mex. lib. 8. cap. 1, page 295. 



i When the advantages of sowing seed in a glass-house cannot be obtamed a 

 hot-bed must be substituted, on which the seed may be sowed, and the plants 

 pricked out in the manner of tender annuals, until they are ready to be put into 

 the single pots. 



