118 
THE HOME GARDEN. 
be perfectly straight, about an inch thick, and from six to 
nine feet high, according to the kind of tomatoes grown. 
It will be understood that the stem of the plant is kept 
cpiite upright by being tied to the stake now and then as it 
advances, taking care to loosen or remove any strings that 
become so tight as to constrict it. If the plant does not 
stand as erect as a life-guardsman, the weight of its load 
will bear it down. The rest is done by pinching, which 
guides the plant as easily and effectually as the goad leads 
the ox. The main leader is never pinched, but kept right 
on toward the top of the stake.” 
The side branches, in this mode of culture, have a very 
neat appearance, three leaves and a cluster of blossoms be¬ 
ing all that each one is allowed to bear, and it is important 
to have one of these leaves beyond the cluster. 
Tomatoes are very susceptible to frost, and the fruit is of 
so perishable a nature that gathering it to keep in the house 
seems to be of very little use. But, if, before the frost has 
had a chance at them, the vines are dug up and suspended 
roots upward in a cellar, the ripe tomatoes will keep for a 
long time. 
The general idea in regard to fruit is that raising it on a 
large scale is the only way to obtain profit from it; but the 
knowledge of a few small facts will enable a person, with a 
very small capital in trees, to make what he has pay better 
than the acres of his more ambitious neighbors. For it is 
not all the battle to reap a large harvest of fruit; quality 
is even more than quantity, and the way in which it is put 
up for market has much to do with the price it brings, and 
a fact to be especially noted is that good fruit put up in 
small quantities tv ill ahvays meet a ready sale . 
Sometimes a small garden will contain, among the flow¬ 
er beds, two or three fruit-trees that do little or nothing in 
the way of blooming. These trees are very apt to lean 
over on one side, and one who has successfully tried the ex- 
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