September 21, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
267 
N ot for many years past has such a favourable season for 
growing Tomatoes in the open air been experienced as 
during the summer now drawing to a close; and never probably 
has such a collection of varieties, or selections, been seen fruiting 
together as in one of the trial grounds of Messrs. Sutton and 
Sons, Reading. Nearly 200 reputedly distinct sorts, obtained 
from various sources in this country, also from France and 
America, have been grown under absolutely identical conditions 
from beginning to end, the collection forming a veritable museum 
of the beautiful, wholesome, and popular esculent. The plants 
have been thoroughly well grown, too, throughout their career, 
with the object of developing to the fullest possible extent their 
leading characteristics ; and it has only to be stated that twelve 
plants represented the minimum number of any variety, while of 
some there were at the least five times that number, to show that 
there were thousands in the aggregate, the whole forming some¬ 
thing like a forest of sturdy tree-like plants laden with scarlet, 
crimson, and golden fruit. 
There were, it may be truly said, Tomatoes oc all colours, 
shapes, and sizes yet produced, from the miniature Currant 
varieties, with elegant drooping racemes of coral-like berries or 
yellow beads, to the huge corrugated American monsters, weighing 
1 lb. or more. Mentioning these it may be well to dispose of 
them at once. However they may be valued in the land of big 
things they are clearly out-distanced according to our standard of 
merit in Tomatoes by varieties which have been raised at home, 
or at least improved by rigid selection. There is not one of the 
newer Americans that is worthy of a place by the side of our 
best varieties, while most of the older introduced sorts which 
did good service in past years are out of date. However much 
we are indebted to our transatlantic friends for teaching the 
value of Tomatoes, and leading the way in their popularisation, 
also furnishing us with improvements on the old stock, we are 
now undoubtedly in advance in the question of varieties, and 
growers who want the best obtainable have no occasion to go out 
of England for them. That is a fact which no one can gainsay 
who has examined carefully, and without prejudice, the great 
Reading collection. 
What there is in store for us from the “other side ” time alone 
can tell, but we do not want varieties of rampant growth which 
concentrate their resources on one or two unwieldy corrugations, 
leaving a residue of clustered deformities in the struggle for 
existence. We rather covet plants of sturdy habit and prolific in 
smooth firm fruits, uniform in character from base to summit. If 
large fruits are wanted for exhibition they can be had by a good 
choice of English varieties, and such cultural methods as successful 
growers adopt in thinning and supporting the crops. If medium¬ 
sized produce is preferred for market, say averaging about half a 
dozen fruits to a pound, there is no difficulty in obtaining them, 
nor is there any lack of small-fruited varieties for ornament and 
use, or both combined. Plenty could be found for all purposes 
in the great trial in question, as good, it may be safe to say, as 
coull be procured from any part of the world, and whatever our 
shortcomings may be in other respects, it is at least satisfactory 
to feel that England is in the ascendant with Tomatoes. 
Some catalogue illustrations that are published of plants bearing 
No. 691.—VoL. XXVII., Thied Series. 
clusters of fruit close to the ground are regarded by many persons 
as exaggerations, and allegations have been heard of such plants 
growing only in the artist’s brain. No doubt many hundreds of 
persons have had the pleasure of inspecting the collection under 
notice, and they would have no difficulty in finding row after row 
in which the plants were bearing huge clusters of fruits so low 
down that it would be difficult to place the hand under them with¬ 
out its coming in contact with the soil. That habit of bearing was 
not the exception but the rule with some of the varieties, notably 
Earliest of All, which justifies its name, and Main Crop, the bulk 
of the clusters of large handsome fruits on this sturdy grower being 
produced on the lower part of the stems from just above the 
ground to a height of 2 feet. An acre of such plants and crop 
would be worth at least £100 if the produce were sold for 2d. a 
pound. Both those are outdoor varieties of sterling merit when 
well grown during a favourable season, and there are not many 
seasons in which the fruit of the former especially would not ripen 
outdoors in appropriate positions if the plants were rightly pre¬ 
pared and managed. Errors in either or both those respects are 
accountable for many breakdowns with Tomatoes outdoors and 
under glass as well. Of that there can be no manner of doubt, 
but it is one of the most difficult things in the world to make many 
of those who fail believe it, and so much the worse for them. 
They honestly think that everything which could be done has been 
done when the plants or crops have failed, and are also thoroughly 
convinced that whoever had attempted the work in the same house 
or outside plot the same season must have failed also. They are 
very much mistaken. Half the failures with Tomatoes even out¬ 
doors are the result of mismanagement, and a great deal more than 
half of those under glass are brought about by the “cultivator.” 
The sounder the methods of cultivation the less the liability of the 
plants to fungoid, bacterial, or any other attacks. 
In all the thousands of plants at Reading there was scarcely a 
failure, except in some inherently weak varieties ; and if a plant 
here and there of the strong should have “ gone off,” and been found 
full of bacteria, white those near and all around remained healthy, 
the victim would have been probably planted with the roots either 
too dry or the soil in the pot a soddened mass. Many a so-called 
mystery is traceable to a simple cause, and so-called small mistakes 
often lead to great losses. As with individual plants so with a 
houseful. Make an initial mistake, and the seed is sown of 
ulterior collapse. The plants, when microscopically examined, are 
found eaten up by some parasite or micro-organism, and the fiat 
goes forth that these are the cause of the trouble. No ; in most 
cases they were the results of some cultural mistake. The plants 
were brought into a condition favourable to seizure, and were 
seized. Microscopists who are not cultivators may not admit this 
dictum, but cultivators who are microscopists take care not to 
condemn it ; on the contrary, they urge the best of culture for pre¬ 
venting insidious attacks. Why were the Reading plants so healthy 
and so heavily fruited down to the ground ? Because no mistake 
was made by the grower, and the climatic conditions were favour¬ 
able to their prosperity. Under glass the climate is very much 
what man makes it when he has the means at command, and out¬ 
doors, though he must take the climate as it comes, he may enable 
his plants to withstand adverse conditions by good work in pre¬ 
paration, or render them liable to failure through erroneous methods. 
The Reading practice is very simple but very sound. If the 
cultivator were asked to describe it he would probably begin with a 
few negatives ;—“Do not raise the plants too early and grow them 
tall and tender for planting out, as if you do you will only at the 
best get a few trusses of fruit at the top of lanky stems. Do 
not add fresh manure to the ground in spring, but give what is 
needed in the way of enrichment in the autumn, then the soil will 
be fertile yet sweet at planting time. Do not plant deeply to 
make tall plants look a little sturdy or to save stakes. Do not let 
lateral growths extend, but pick them out as soon as seen to 
No. 2347.— VoL. LXXXIX., Old Series. 
