TOMATO DISEASE IN GUERNSEY. 
18 
TOMATO DISEASE IN GUEENSEY. 
By Mr. A. Collenette, F.C.S. 
[Bead March 12, 1895.] 
Guernsey, as everyone knows, is a very small island, being- 
only seven miles in its greatest length and five miles at its 
broadesu, and, roughly speaking, is of a triangular shape. It 
contains about 36,000 inhabitants, and there is one large town 
having 16,000 inhabitants, and yet notwithstanding there are no 
fewer than 1,500 persons who grow crops for exportation, send- 
ing away hundreds of thousands of packages yearly, and 
returning a gross income of more than half a million of money. 
The chief crops placed in order of importance are : Indoor croj^s — 
Tomatos, Grapes, French Beans, Melons, and flowers. Outdoor 
crops — Early Potatos, Broccoli, and flowers. And of these 
various crops there can be no doubt that the Tomatos are by far 
the most important item, and even at the present low prices are 
able to yield a fair profit to the grower. 
Tomatos are grown (with or without heat, according to the 
time of year) in glass houses, usually about 120 feet long and 
30 feet wide : these are erected cheaply, over all sorts of land, and 
with more thought for convenience than aspect. The result is 
that a great many houses are working under somewhat 
unfavourable conditions as regards drainage of soil and aspect. 
Nevertheless, such is the indomitable energy and pluck of the 
average Guernseyman that many succeed under conditions which 
would seem to mean absolute failure to outsiders. Many 
persons come to Guernsey with an idea that the soil is one of 
the chief causes of success, but they are not with us long 
before they find out that Guernsey soil is not more productive, 
in itself, than that of other places, and is, indeed, inferior to that 
of Jersey, being hard rubbly stone (metamorphic gneiss, diorite, 
and syenite), covered over with a yellow brick clay so stiff as to 
make drainage a difficult matter, or with a deposit of sand (in 
the lower parishes) containing very little plant-food. I have 
seen many places with better average soil than ours not con- 
sidered worth working in England. Guernsey has, however, an 
unfailing source of plant-food (potash) in the seaweed of its 
