86 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 2, 1393. 
of their immunity from want than in helping to relieve the dire 
distress into which their brothers and sisters in the craft have 
fallen. Mr. Osven Thomas is, we may suppose, one of the least 
likely to become a beneficiary of the Institution, and his thought 
is not for himself but for others, and we have no hesitation in 
expressing our strong approval of his appeal, prompted as it is by 
good feeling and supported by prudential considerations, which we 
hope may have weight with many thoughtful members of the gar¬ 
dening community.] 
SEASONABLE NOTES ON TOMATOES. 
The beginning of February is an excellent time to make a good 
sowing of Tomato seed, the plants resulting from which being 
useful for a variety of purposes. Some of them will be of great 
service for planting in vacant spaces in fruit houses ; others will, 
if repotted when necessary, develop into large strong specimens for 
planting in the open air during the last week in May. In cases 
where a house can be devoted to them, the plants raised from 
the February sowing generally proves the most productive because 
they are grown under the influence of a stronger light in the early 
stages than plants produced from the autumn sowing, consequently 
they begin to fruit nearer the soil. The plants have, moreover, a 
sufficiently long season before them to enable the cultivator to take 
full advantage of the most productive stages of their growth before 
the dark days of autumn come. 
The plan of sowing in boxes or pans answers very well if the 
seed is sown thinly, but there seems to be a great diversity of 
opinion as to what is meant by sowing thinly. For instance, some 
may think that placing each seed half an inch from any other is 
following that dictum ; but I am fully convinced that if we are 
to obtain sturdy plants the seeds ought to be placed 1^ inch apart. 
The seedlings will then have room to develop without crowding 
till they have become sufficiently well rooted to be placed in 3-inch 
pots. I have no doubt that many beside myself have noticed 
that a Tomato plant in its early stages makes a large amount of 
•top growth in comparison to its root extension ; so that, unless the 
seedlings are thinly disposed, the growth becomes crowded before 
the roots have grasped the soil sufficiently to render transplanting 
desirable. 
A temperature ranging from 55° to 60° at night, with a rise of 
5° during the daytime, is a suitable for producing sturdy plants, 
provided they can be kept near the glass and have a free circula¬ 
tion of air on all favourable occasions. In order to guard against 
sappy growth, a condition favourable to disease, the plants should 
receive but little syringing after they are once established in pots ; 
what moisture is required to prevent the attack of insects may 
easily be provided by damping the floors and stages of the house. 
A compost consisting of eight parts loam, one part manure from a 
spent Mushroom bed, and one of burnt refuse, is quite rich enough, 
and when ordinary garden soil is employed the only addition re- 
-quired is the same proportion of the latter ingredient and a little 
soot. If the plants are transferred from the seed box into 3-inch 
.pots they will only require one other shift before being placed in 
their permanent quarters, except in the case of those needed for 
open air culture, where they have high walls, fences, or buildings 
to cover. It is in this instance desirable to place the plants into 
9 or 10-inch pots to secure large specimens with a few fruits set 
upon them before they are placed in their summer quarters. Fine 
crops of Tomatoes are often secured in the open air by following 
this course. Firm potting should be practised, as it not only tends 
to keep the plants free from disease, but also renders them wonder¬ 
fully productive in a limited space by inducing short-jointed 
growth, abundance of flowers, and, if other conditions are favour¬ 
able, a good set of fruit. 
When odd plants are wanted to fill vacancies in fruit houses, 
1 keep the plants in pots and partially plunge them in the soil 
rather than plant in the borders, which are generally too rich 
for Tomatoes ; moreover, I never allow much root run, the 
attendant evils being strong growth, and a difficulty in securing 
a good set. In houses solely devoted to Tomatoes the practice of 
growing the plants in narrow borders or boxes, is, I consider, the 
best to adopt. If the former are from 15 to 18 inches wide, and a 
few inches less in depth, and provided with 3 or 4 inches of drainage, 
a sufficient quantity of soil may be given to enable the plants 
to support heavy crops, while the roots will be thoroughly under 
'Control. Boxes about the same width, and a foot in depth, 
with 2 inches of drainage, are of the right proportions to secure 
■satisfactory results ; but it frequently happens that boxes have 
to be made much narrower to fit into limited spaces. In such cases 
the labour of watering is considerably increased. 
If well rooted plants which have not been drawn during any 
stage of their growth in 6 or 7-inch pots, are planted in positions 
similar to those above described, they will commence fruiting at a 
short distance fiom the ground, and continue to bear till their 
allotted space has been covered, or till late in the autumn. Specimens 
answering to the above description should be treated on the single 
stem system, and if all side shoots are removed, flowers will be pro¬ 
duced at every joint. I have tried plants at various distances 
apart, but have come to the conclusion that when well grown 
15 inches from plant to plant is the distance at which the greatest 
weight of superior fruit can be obtained from a given area. When 
plants have to be employed which have been unavoidably drawn 
in the early stages of growth, it is an advantage to lay in a few 
side shoots near the base to secure fruit to within a few inches of 
the soil. 
The common practice of cutting away a large proportion of the 
main leaves in the early stages of growth is not one to be recom¬ 
mended, tending, as it does, to prevent the fruits swelling freely, 
and also encouraging the production of numerous side shoots, which 
are not required. It is perhaps not practicable to do away with 
shortening the main leaves altogether, but this necessary evil may, 
and should be, much more limited than it is; instead of allowing 
large leaves to develop till overcrowding takes place, it is a much 
better plan to remove a portion of such leaves when they are 
young, and thus prevent crowding and the severe check attendant 
upon wholesale mutilation, when the fruits are swelling. When 
once the majority of them are well advanced in the colouring 
stage the removal of superfluous foliage is not of so much 
consequence. 
Liquid manure should not be applied till a fair amount of 
fruit is set, then it may be given regularly at every alternate 
watering ; frequent dressings of the many good manures adver¬ 
tised, or fresh horse droppings, are of great assistance in enabling 
plants to perfect prodigious crops, and such practices are prefer¬ 
able to planting in rich soil. A method adopted by some market 
growers is to utilise their Tomato houses for Mushroom growing 
during the winter, and partially plunge the pots in which Toma¬ 
toes are growing, in the Mushroom beds. This is undoubtedly a 
bad practice, and one which predisposes the plants to the attacks 
of the dread disease. One large grower of my acquaintance last 
year suffered severely from this cause, the disease to all appearance 
being brought about by allowing the roots to penetrate the rich 
manure. 
If the plants are grown throughout in the manner I have described 
there need be no fear of disease. When, however, the slightest 
sign of its presence is detected the hot-water pipes should be kept 
constantly warm, and liberal ventilation afforded, at the same 
time keeping the plants somewhat dry at the roots. If this treat¬ 
ment is continued for a week all trace of the disease will disappear. 
Almost every grower seems to have his own particular selection 
of Tomatoes, but I think it would be hard to beat Conqueror and 
Earliest of All for the early crop, Ham Green for the main 
crop, and a good type of Perfection for exhibition purposes.— 
Cultivator. 
GROWING MUSHROOMS IN SOIL. 
I AM sorry not to have been able to answer the inquiries made 
by Mr. Cranswick on page 4 of the Journal of the 5ih of January 
sooner. I do not think I can add much to the original article 
where our practice was described, as it was tried but one 
year. When the Mushrooms came up in such numbers we 
were most surprised ourselves, and we shall certainly try the 
experiment again. Mr. Cranswick asks if the insertion of the 
ordinary brick spawn would produce equally good results. This 
we have not tried, but cannot see why it should not, as field 
Mushrooms grow in loam alone. For this practice the loam 
should be from old pasture placed on the top of existing borders 
made very firm and kept rather dry. If the spawn could be made 
to run and get established I daresay good Mushrooms could be 
gathered for years without any more future spawnings, but 
abundance of feeding, either liquid or with Thomson’s manure 
should be given. 
One of our houses was built one half on old pasture, the other 
half on land which had been broken up, cropped, and manured in 
the usual way for years. Some very large stools of Mushrooms 
made their appearance from the part of the border composed 
of the old pasture ; on the other half we have never seen any, 
though all the house had the same treatment, being all planted with 
Tomatoes and top-dressed alike both with Thomson’s fertiliser and 
ordinary farmyard manure, but no spawn was inserted at any time. 
I may mention that our soil here is on the old red sandstone forma¬ 
tion, and is of fine quality. Everything seems to thrive in it, and 
we neither use either sand, leaf mould, nor farmyard manure. The 
Vines in particular thrive well. 
