378 
It is not advisable to add too much organic material in the shape 
of decayed cowman ure or artificial manures to the soil at present as 
this induces too rank growth and very little blossom. 
Place a stout stake to each plant sloping the stake slightly out- 
wards to allow free acess of air to the centre of the pot, tying each 
stem loosely to its stake when necessary. If at any time the plant 
suffers from lack of water then poor results will be obtained, So that 
it is essential to see that they are thoroughly watered when necessary. 
Opinions differ as to whether the side shoots ought to be removed 
or not, and as far as I have seen it is immaterial which method is 
adopted in this country, but in many cases it has been a decided 
advantage to leave as many of the side shoots as possible, provided 
sufficient light and air has access to the centre of the plant. When 
the fruit has set liberal waterings of liquid cowmanure, occasional 
weak solutions of guano or any other well-known manure aie very 
beneficial. If, however, when potting into the 10 or 12 inch pots, the 
pots are only filled up to within 2 inches of the rim, a mulching of 
decayed cowmanure may now be given. 
This then is a rough diary of the work in connection with the 
growing of Tomatoes were everything plain sailing, but it must be 
remembered that nearly every plant when cultivated on a large or 
small scale is liable to attacks of insect. pests and diseases of all sorts 
. some time or other. The tomato is no exception to this, in fact 
rather the reverse. From the time of sowing of the seed one has to 
be continually on the outlook for pests and for the benefit of those 
who have tried and failed to grow the Tomato I will briefly mention 
some of them and methods to be adopted in combating them. 
The Damping off fungus (Pythium de Baryanum, Hesse). 
When plantlets (usually in the seedling stage) fall over the die, 
damping off is said to have taken place. This is due to the presence 
of too much moisture in the soil and also keeping the seedling pans 
in too dark and insufficiently airy a situation. 
Preventative means : — Thoroughly drain the seed pans or pots 
and remove them immediately the seed show signs of germination to 
a light, airy situation. The fungus cannot spread or be produced 
unless water is constantly present in the soil in excessive quantities. 
Sleepy-Disease ( Fusarium Lycopersici, Sacc.). 
The first indication of a tomato plant being attacked by this 
disease is the drooping of the leaves and their bad colour, the older 
leaves being attacked first. If a badly affected plant be pulled up, 
the roots will be found to be decayed, but if a plant, on the first sign 
of being attacked, is lifted carefully to avoid breaking' the smaller 
roots, it will be seen that many of the lateral rootlets are in a decayed 
condition though the main root may be quite sound. The disease is 
