352 



TOMATO GROWING IN THE SOUTH. 



It was not an uncommon thing then to receive $io per 

 barrel for our first early peas, potatoes $5, and our en- 

 tire crop of cabbages of the Early Jersey variety, which 

 are quite inferior to our Henderson Early now, would 

 net us, on an average, $16 per hundred. According to 

 a conversation had with the late Peter Henderson, just 

 before his death, Mr. Henderson stated that it was easier 

 to make $5,000 per year 20 years ago than it is to make 

 $1,000 now, all because of the competition of southern 

 truck. Mr. Frost stated that from the year 1850 to 1872 

 a sash of glass containing nine square feet would return, 

 during a season, $5. Now $1 would be a good return. 



Mr. Derby, of Revere, considered southern truck no 

 detriment to our native produce, owing to the poor con- 

 dition in which southern truck was received in Boston. 

 In fact, the poor southern crop only sharpens the appe- 

 tite for our better quality. Mr. Derby thought the net 

 income from our market gardens now was as large as 20 

 years ago, but, as in all other business, now the individual 

 volume is larger. He stated that northern commission 

 men advance much of the money to the southern truck- 

 ers, taking a mortgage upon their lands. Thus, the 

 southerner is obliged to send his productions to the 

 mortgagee, and it is often the case, from poor seasons 

 or destruction in transit, that the crop does not net the 

 producer enough to satisfy the mortgage. 



Mr. Tapley, of Revere, stated that he had been in 17 

 different states, and he considered that gardening pur- 

 sued around Boston gave better results than anywhere 



he had traveled. He had investigated gardening in Vir- 

 ginia and Maryland, from which locality much produce 

 is sent to Boston, and he could not see where those pur- 

 suing the business could make much money. An illus- 

 tration of their difficulties was related in the case of the 

 production of sweet potatoes. He had traced the cost 

 of transportation and charges of selling, and it figured 

 up to 95 cents per barrel. For the barrel alone they 

 pay 35 cents, for which they get nothing back, where we 

 eceive an empty barrel for every barrel of produce. 



Warren Rawson, father of the president of the asso- 

 ciation, who has spent much time in the vicinity of Nor- 

 folk, Va., thought that owing to the slovenly way truck 

 is grown there and put up for sale, that it did not mater- 

 ially interfere with our produce. He thought that if a 

 gardener could not make money within 10 miles of Bos- 

 ton now, he had better quit the business. 



Mr. Allen, of Arlington, considered southern truck a 

 detriment to him. Before the war, and before much 

 southern stuff came north, he was able to receive $1 per 

 dozen bunches for his first beets ; now he gets 50 cents 

 per dozen. White onions from sets were 50 cents per 

 dozen, now 25 cents per dozen, and every other vege- 

 table in proportion. 



In order to get the sense of the members as to whether 

 southern truck materially interferes with our prices, a 

 vote was taken, which resulted in 26 voting that it does, 

 and six that it does not. 



E. P. KiRBY. 



TOMATO GROWING IN THE SOUTH. 



IE CULTURE of the tomato in 

 Louisiana must differ in many 

 points from the methods usu" 

 ally employed in the north. 

 Vegetation starts much ear- 

 lier here, and the summers 

 are very much longer ; be- 

 'f^T- sides, we are subjected to 

 prolonged spells of droughty 

 and the rains are much heav- 

 ier. The tomato requires 

 plenty of sunlight, but if the 

 plant is to grow rapidly, moisture must also be sup- 

 plied abundantly. If the moisture be excessive, the 

 plants run to vines and produce but very little fruit. 

 The night temperature must also range near 60°, if 

 the plants are to produce a full crop. 



The tomato continues to grow here until late in the 

 fall, the warm days being well suited to it ; but the 

 nights are too cold, and, although the plants blossom 

 very freely, they fail to set any fruit. To produce a 

 plentiful supply of tomatoes during November, Decem- 

 ber and January in this latitude, requires but small out- 

 lay and but little skill in ordinary seasons. The first 

 sowing of seed should be made on a spent hot-bed dur- 



ing the first week in January. The heating material for 

 this bed need not exceed twelve inches in thickness, and 

 the frame may be covered with pieces of board, old sacks 

 or straw matting. The frame will need to be covered 

 nearly every night to protect the plants from frost, and 

 it should be covered before the plants appear, whenever 

 there is an indication of a heavy shower. If no heating 

 material is at hand, choose a piece of ground well shel- 

 tered from the north and northeast. Pulverize the soil 

 thoroughly, and place your frame in the desired posi- 

 tion. Cover with a sash or any other material, and sow 

 the seeds during the evening of a sunny day. As the 

 young plants grow, keep them well thinned and they will 

 be fit to set out in their fruiting quarters the first week in 

 March. Twice as many plants should be grown in this 

 first lot as are really needed, so that if those first set out 

 should be destroyed by a late frost, other plants will be 

 at hand to take their places. The young plants should 

 be pinched back when they have made three or four 

 leaves, so as to cause them to throw out side shoots as 

 soon as possible. 



When the weather appears settled, set out your plants 

 two feet apart, in rows four feet apart, planting on the 

 level, but having a furrow between every sixth row. 

 To every plant put two stakes about nine inches apart, 

 and be careful to keep the stakes in the row ; stout canes 

 answer well for this purpose. Instead of staking as 



