‘ 
Washington, D. C. vV August, 1922 
FROST INJURY TO TOMATOES.’ 
By R. B. Harvey, formerly Plant Physiologist, Office of Plant Physiological and 
Fermentation Investigations, and R. C. Wricut, Physiologist, Office of Horti- 
cultural and Pomological Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. Page. 
Lina lenin) se. a it JeStudiesoin=ethe feld= 2a. 82. saa 6 
Varieties studied and results_______ QOS UMM Diy se 2 ors ee eee 8 
WNGer Cooling =e. Sse eee eee A si terature. cited +. 12 s2 tress eee 10 
Effect of cold on the tomato plant__ 5 
INTRODUCTION. 
The importance of our tomato industry and the fact that a large 
part of the crop is shipped and handled during the winter and early 
spring months make the knowledge of the freezing temperatures of 
tomatoes of considerable economic importance to growers, shippers. 
and handlers of this crop. 
Some idea of the scope of the tomato industry in the United States 
may be obtained from the following statistics compiled by the Bureau 
of Markets of the United States Department of Agriculture. Farm- 
ers’ Bulletin 1233, “ Tomatoes for Canning and Manufacturing,” con- 
tains some additional data on the importance of the industry (/)’. 
During the year 1919 approximately 14,469 cars of tomatoes were 
shipped to all markets. In 1918 the number of cars was 15,4583 in 
1917 there were 13,910 cars; and in 1916 14,749, making a 4-year aver- 
age of 14,646 cars. The States which ship field-grown tomatoes to the 
early market are Florida, Mississippi, Texas, and California, and they 
furnished 8,184 cars, or 56 per cent, of this yearly average. The total 
production and value of the crop of tomatoes for shipping from these 
four principal States in 1919 are shown in Table 1. 
1This bulletin presents the results of a portion of the work carried on in the Bureau 
of Plant Industry under the project “Factors Affecting the Storage Life of Vegetables.” 
2'The serial numbers (italic) in parentheses refer to “Literature cited,’ at the end of 
this bulletin. 
111004°—22 1 
er YOY ee 
