CULTURAL DIRECTIONS 
457 
many others so far as details are concerned) are in 
common use: 
1. Sow thinly, 6 to 8 weeks before field planting, in 
hotbed or greenhouse in rows 3 to 6 inches apart, and 
set in the field without previous transplanting. This 
plan should not be recommended, because the plants are 
usually spindly and the root system poorly developed. 
2. Sow 10 to 12 seeds to the inch of furrow, rows 2 
inches apart, 7 to 8 weeks before field planting; trans- 
plant 1^2 or 2 inches apart in 3 or 4 weeks from sowing. 
3. Sow as directed in No. 2, about nine weeks before 
field planting; transplant Ij 4 or 2 inches apart, prefer- 
ably in the greenhouse ; three weeks later, plant 4 x 4 or 
4x5 inches apart in flats or beds, or in 3 to 5-inch paper 
or earthen pots, or in veneered boxes or berry baskets. 
This method with any of its modifications should pro- 
duce fine plants and meet the requirements when the. 
tomatoes are grown on a large field scale. 
4. Sow 10 to 11 weeks before field planting, and make 
at least three shifts in flats, beds or preferably pots, the 
space or the size of the pots being increased each time 
until the plants stand 7 to 10 inches apart. When this 
method is followed, the crown cluster of flowering buds 
should be removed as soon as it appears. This will 
cause the axillary buds and branches to develop rapidly 
and each to produce a cluster of flowers. The plant will 
thus have two to five flower clusters instead of one when 
set in the field. There should be a bountiful supply of 
ripe tomatoes in 40 or 45 days from the date the plants 
are set in the field. Ripe tomatoes from plants of this 
character have been picked in 37 days from the time of 
planting in the open ground. In many northern markets 
the tomatoes which are picked soon after July 1 will aver- 
age about 2 cents each. 
Tomato plants should always be grown rather slowly, 
without check in growth at any time. For a maximum 
