August, 1891. 
143 
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The Wihter Forcing of Tomatoes. 
A fe'cent bulletin of the Cornell Univer- 
sity Agricultural Experiment Station is de- 
voted entirely to experiments in the forcing 
of tomatoes and is an excellent and practi- 
cal little treatise upon the subject. The 
winter forcing of tomatoes is largely prac- 
ticed in the vicinity of our large cities and 
is a profitable industry when followed in- 
telligently. We gather from the bulletin 
the following essential points of culture and 
practice: The crop demands a high tem- 
perature, an abundance of sunlight, and 
great care in the growing. A house for for- 
cing tomatoes should be light and tight and 
the roof must be high enough to allow of 
training the plants. Direct and strong sun- 
light is important. The proper temperature 
fol‘ tomatoes is from 60° to 65" at night and 
tet> degrees higher for dull days. On bright 
days it may be allowed to run higher, al- 
though there is a desire to ventilate at 75°, 
but a temperature of 9o° or even 100° can 
do no harm. Until fruit begius to set, the 
atmosphere should be kept moist, especially 
on bright days, but the setting of the fruit 
is hindered by a humid atmosphere. 
Tomato plants for house culture require 
rich soil and careful pruning. The best soil 
is rich garden loam to which is added a 
fourth or fifth of its bulk of tvell rotted ma- 
nure, and when the plants begin to bear, 
liquid manure should be applied every week, 
or a top-dressing of manure given. This 
heavy manuring is essential to satisfactory 
results. 
The forced plants begin to bear in from 
four to five months from the sowing of the 
seed. They require brisk bottom heat and 
are best grown in boxes of about eighteen 
inches square although they may be satis- 
factorily grown either in pots, boxes or in 
shallow beds upon the benches. It is recom- 
mended to put four plants in each box and 
the boxes to lie placed one foot apart. Am- 
ple drainage should be provided in the way 
of potsherds or clinkers placed in the bot- 
tom. At planting the boxes are filled but 
two-thirds full of soil, being filled up with 
rich soil and manure when the fruit begins 
to set. The object of this is to confine the 
roots in a smaller space and therefore to 
hasten fruitfulness, hut more particularly 
to allow of an additional stimulus to be giv- 
en to the plant at fruiting time. 
The tomato plants must be trained. This 
may be either to a single stem or to two or 
three shoots trained in fan-shape. In box- 
es at a foot apart the single stem training 
is best. The supports are furnished by sin- 
gle cords running perpendicularly to the 
rafters and the plants are secured loosely to 
this support at intervals of a foot or so by 
means of some soft cord. All side shoots 
are pinched off as soon as they appear, and 
the leader is also pinched as soon as it 
breaches the glass. Where possible the plants 
should be trained fully six feet high. The 
largest clusters should be supported by a 
sling of raffia passed under them. In wat- 
ering soak the soil thoroughly, yet without 
drenching. Avoid frequent and insufficient 
watering which moistens the surface but 
leaves the under soil dry. When the fruit 
begins to set the atmosphere must be kept 
perfectly dry. An important feature of 
forcing tomatoes in midwinter is that of 
pollenation. In the short, dull days of mid- 
winter some artificial aid must be given the 
flowers toenable them to set. The common 
practice is to tap the plants sharply several 
times during the day with a padded stick 
but this is perhaps of rather doubtful 
value. A more satisfactory method is to 
knock the pollen from the flowers, catching 
it in a spoon or other receptacle and then 
dipping the stigmas of the other flowers 
into it. Thei'e is a time in the life of the 
flower when the pollen falls out readily if 
the atmosphere is dry enough to hold dust. 
This is when the flower is fully expanded 
and somewhat past its prime. The flower 
is tapped lightly with a lead pencil and 
the light yellow powder falls out freely. 
The amount of yield per plant of house 
tomatoes will depend upon the method of 
training adopted. The yield from two stem 
med plants will be twice as great as that 
from single stem training and the yield 
from double cropping of one plant will be 
from two to four times aS much as from a 
single Crop and much will depend upon the 
time of year. The yield may be safely put 
at about two pounds to the square foot. 
As to varieties, the Dwarf Champion is 
not recommended as it does not grow high 
or free enough to allow of convenient train- 
ing, and the fruit is small and ripens slowly. 
Lorillanl and Ignotuin are among the best 
and Volunteer is scarcely inferior. Golden 
Queen is the best yellow'. 
The tomatoes are usually marketed in 
small splint baskets holding from four to 
ten pounds of fruit. Each fruit is wrapped 
in tissue paper and if to be shipped by rail 
the baskets should be lined with rolled cot- 
ton. In midwinter our fruits average from 
1% oz. to 2 oz. each, but in late March and 
April the average will rise to three ounces 
and more. In May, well pollenated fruits 
often weigh seven or eight ounces. The 
weight of the best fruit is often increased 
by cutting off the smallest and most irregu- 
lar ones. 
A white scale (Aleyrodes vaporuriorum ) is 
a common pest on tomatoes. The im- 
perfect insect is a small white scale-like 
body, preying upon the undersurface of the 
leaves, and the mature form is a minute 
fly-like insect which flies about the house. 
It can be kept in check by fumigating with 
tobacco smoke. A much more serious pest 
is a small spotted mite, scarcely larger than 
the red spider. Barring the rose chafer, it 
is generally the most serious pest tc be en- 
countered. The mites feed upon the under 
sides of the leaves, causing the upper sur- 
face to appear speckled with white. They 
attack many plants, but tomatoes and cu- 
cumbers are favorites. 
GENERAL SUMMARY. 
1. The tomato can be forced for winter 
bearing to advantage, but it demands close 
and constant attention. 
2. A tomato house should be very light, 
warm, and the roof should be at least five 
feet above the beds or benches. 
3. An abundance of sunlight is essential. 
4. The temperature should be about 60° 
to 65° at night and 70° lo 80" during the day, 
or higher in full sunshine. 
5. House tomatoes demand a rich soil 
and a liberal supply of fertilizers. 
6. In this latitude, house tomatoes bear 
when four or five months old. 
7- Tomatoes like brisk bottom heat. 
They may be grown in large boxes or Upon 
benches; 18 inch-square boxes, placed about 
a foot apart, and Containing foul - plants to 
a box, afford one of the neatest and best 
means for growing tomatoes. 
8. Winter tomatoes nntst be trained. 
From one to three stems, depending upon 
the distance apart of the plants, are allowed 
to grow from each plant. These are trained 
upon perpendicular or ascending cords. The 
plants must be pruned as fast as new shoots 
appear. The heaviest clusters should be 
supported. 
9. Water may be used more freely early 
in the growth of the plant than later. Wet 
the soil thoroughly at each watering, rather 
than water often. When the fruit begins 
to set, keep the atmosphere dry, especially 
during the middle of the day. 
10. In midwinter the flowers should be 
pollenated by hand. This may be done by 
knocking the pollen from the flowers when 
the atmosphere is dry and catching it in a 
spoon or other recepticle, into which the 
stigma is thrust. 
11. One-sidedness and much of the small- 
ness of house tomatoes appears to be due, at 
least in a part, to insufficient pollenation. 
a. One-sidedness appears to result from 
a greater development of seeds upon the 
large side. 
b. This development of seeds is apparent- 
ly due to the application of the pollen to 
that side. 
c. An abundance of pollen applied over 
the entire stigmatic surface, by increasing 
the number of seeds increases the size of 
the fruit. 
d. The pollen, either directly or indi- 
rectly, probably stimulates the growth of 
the fruit beyond the mere influence of the 
number of seeds. 
12. The second crop of fruit is obtained 
by training out a shoot or shoots from the 
base of old plants, by burying the old plant 
or by starting a new seedling crop. The 
first method appears to be the best. 
13. House tomatoes in this latitude yield 
about 2 lbs. to the square foot. The amount 
of the first crop does not appear to influ- 
ence the amount of yield in the second crop 
for the same plant. 
14. Lorillard, Ignotum, Volunteer, Ith- 
aca, Golden Queen and Beauty we have 
found to be good winter tomatoes. 
15. Insect pests are kept in check by fu- 
migating with tobacco, and the spotted mite 
by Hughes’ fir-tree oil. Fungi are controlled 
by ammoniacal carbonate of copper and 
Bordeaux mixture. 
