August 20, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
153 
purposes. Where there is a deficiency of the latter, recourse 
can be had with great advantage to the mowings of the lawn 
which will answer admirably for mulching Onions and other 
crops likely to suffer much from drought We have used a great 
quantity of the new peat litter which has been used under the 
horses, and found it an excellent mulch. After it has been 
trodden under the horses for some time it will be found to 
contain powerful fertilising properties, and thus in this condition 
its value will be considerably enhanced for the purpose of 
mulching. 
Pears, Apples, and Plums have suffered to a slight extent with 
us in consequence of the dry weather, many of the crops of fruit 
being below the average in size. The Raspberry crop, too, in 
shallow soils was of short duration. The young growths of fruit 
trees generally are ripening splendidly, and there is not that 
tendency to grossness so characteristic of damp seasons. In the 
flower garden the drought has perhaps been felt the mo A. The 
majority of the annuals died very early and thus left many bare 
spaces. Groups of Petunias, Godetias, Zinnias, and Marigolds 
seem to enjoy it. Copious waterings late in the evening and 
early in the morning have been the order of the day.—A Kentish 
Gardener. 
TOMATOES. 
“ The game of Tomatoes is played out.” So wrote one of 
the best practical gardeners in the kingdom to me a short time 
ago, and though I attach weight to what he says as a rule, I am 
hound to confess that, in my opinion, he is not at present in a 
position to arrive at, a sound judgment on the matter on which 
he delivered his verdict. The most eminent of judges are occa¬ 
sionally wrong, as is proved by subsequent decisions in courts of 
appeal, and nobody thinks any worse of them. They decide 
according to the evidence before them, and if that is inadequate 
the fault is not theirs. I have had some evidence during the 
past two months that the “ game of Tomatoes ” is not quite 
“played out” - at least for the cultivators, as I have to pay 8d. 
a pound for fruit, and cannot get fresh well-ripened dishes for 
less. I have passed through the London fruit markets time 
after time, and found the retail price varying from 6d. to 1 s. 
pound, but the cheap samples were faulty, and really dearer 
han the others. The price, then, for good fruit in London and 
the suburbs has lately been that above-named—8d. a pound, and 
I suspect it has not been cheaper in the chief provincial cities 
and towns. 
This price has not been received by the growers of the fruit 
That is self-evident, because retailers must “live,” and so must 
agents or salesmen; and they do live, and apparently live well. 
I will grant, what I suspect is true, that they have the “ best of 
the bargain,” I am still driven to the conclusion that the culti¬ 
vation of this fruit is profitable when good crops are ripened in 
June, July, and early August. Towards the end of the latter 
month and in September the prices fall, but the cost of pro¬ 
duction is reduced, and even then I have still to be convinced 
that good crops are not remunerative. 
1 do not pretend to know very much about the cultivation of 
Tomatoes. 1 have grown a few in a small way, but not for sale, 
still the yield was so good as to satisfy that the space devoted 
to the plants would not have been unprofitably occupied had the 
fruit been converted into money. At even 4d. a pound it would 
have paid for the land ; or, in other words, a one-year’s crop of 
Tomatoes was of decidedly more value than the land it occupied 
if the freehold had been sold. 
Instead of the “ game of Tomatoes being played out,” I am 
of opinion that we are only on the threshold of a great com 
mercial industry. So far as I can see, this fruit, that has been 
hitherto very much of a luxury, will shortly become a necessity 
of life. Not long ago, on visiting a London “ chop house,” and 
by no means one of the largest, it was observable that when a 
chop was ordered it was taken for granted a Tomato was in¬ 
tended as well. This was not the case a very few years ag 
In reply to a question as to the increased consumption ~of 
Tomatoes, the caterer observed, “Increased, sir! yes, there is 
no doubt about that; here it has risen from half a bushel a 
week to half a ton, and we want m ire and more ” The fruit is 
also being more largely consumed in a raw state than ever, and 
this habit is almost certain to grow, just as it has grown in 
America. Sliced and prepared very much like Cucumber, 
the fruit is much relished by vast numbers of persons, and 
the taste for it is certainly growing. 
It is quite true that all growers of Tomatoes do not find the 
crops satisfactorily profitable. Like everything else nowadays, 
the crops must be heavy and the fruit of the first quality fo 
cultivation to be remunerative.^ The days of large profits fo 
garden produce are gone for ever—that is to say, small quantities 
will not pay, but a moderate profit on greater bulks will enable 
skilled and enterprising cultivators to reap a fair reward for 
their labour. English-grown Tomatoes have not been sufficient 
for the demand of the nation during the past few years, and 
large consignments have consequently been welcomed from 
abroad. I have seen purchasers clamouring for them at the 
auction sales in the fruit markets, the fruit certainly not equal 
to that grown at home. Bearing this fact in mind I was not 
at all surprised to read of Mr. Phillip Ladds growing 100 tons; 
of Tomatoes. He is evidently one of those individuals who do> 
not believe in being “ beaten by the foreigner.” As a consumer, 
I wish him the success he is sure to win. I should like to see- 
him and other great cultivators have depots for the sale of theiis- 
own fruit and vegeta'des in all populous centres. “ Slow coach ” 
cultivators will not agree with this; they call it “ spoiling the 
market,” I do not. High prices always did, and always will, 
check production and restrict trade; lower prices develope it, 
and make markets prosperous. 
“ There is not much money to be mide out of Tomatc-growing; 
with the fruit at 9d. a pound,” observed an individual who grew 
a small quantity and sold them at that price. I say there is a 
good living profit to be had if half that sum per pound is obtained. 
I am intimately connected with a hard working and excellent 
grower of this fruit, who plants Tomatoes a yard apart, secures 
the p’ants to stakes, and from the top of these to string attached 
to the roof of a large lean-to glass structure. The yield is con¬ 
sidered poor if not more than 10 lbs are gathered from a plant; 
but more than twice that weight is gathered from many of them, 
and the culture is decidedly profitable. It would be if only 3d. 
per lb were obtained for the produce. Twice the weight of 
Tomatoes can be grown in that way over the orthodox plan of 
merely covering the roof a3 in growing Cucumbers; but in the 
case alluded to the roof is in a great measure covered too, after 
the earlier fruit is gathered from the lower part of the plants. 
It is by this system of high and economical cropping, doubling.- 
the produce from a given space, of that once regarded as satis- 
factory, that compensates for the reduction in price and leaves a 
balance on the bulk equal to those secured in the “ good old) 
times” of great profits and slow returns. The last-named old 
policy must be reversed, and it will be. There is no other course- 
that can be relied on than to grow maximum crops of whatever 
is in demand, converting them inti money quickly; and cultiva¬ 
tors who do not act on this principle will simply be left behind in 
the keen competition of the world. 
The grower of Tomatoes referred to does not grow them for 
himself. He is no doubt well remunerated for his labour; ato 
least, he is satisfied, and the owner is satisfied too. as an individual 
well may be in his excellent position. All kinds of fruit and 
vegetables are grown in the establishment, and grown well, but . 
nothing pays better than the Tomatoes do, if as well 
With another example I am familiar. A gardener in a single- 
handed place having learned how to grow Tomatoes well con¬ 
trived to erect a rough house for himself. The proceeds of the 
crop enabled him to erect another house much larger and better; 
a portion of the produce of the second house sufficed for a third, 
a third for a fourth, and so on until he was justified in resigning 
his appointment, and he is now in a much better position as a 
Tom ito grower for himself than he could ever hope to attain as 
a private gardener. 
I have recently been going round the garden of a London 
merchant. Like many others of his class he looks at things 
with a keen business eye, and although the produce of his garden 
is not sold he appraises it as if intuitively, and is not slow to 
grumble if a crop is not of more value than it has C3.st to grow. 
He values his Grapes, Cucumbers, and Tomatoes, all of which 
are admirably grown. Such is the force of habit, and his 
verdict is that “ Tomatoes pay better than anything.” He has 
not made many mistakes in his time, or he would not have raised 
himself from the position of a workman to that of an employer 
of upwards of a thousand men, and it is not probable that he 
erri in the relative estimate he forms of his crops. I should 
like to see more Tomatoes grown, and if grown well they will 
pay the producers; but I must confess I am writing from a... 
selfish point of view, for I am—A Consumer. 
DOUBLE IVY-LEAVED PELARGONIUMS. 
The many and varied forms of these extremely useful plants 
at the present time constitute a valuable group of highly deco¬ 
rative plants, the more remarkable since it appears but the other 
day when the variety known as Konig Albert stood alone among 
hi doubles. Not so now, however, for during the past few 
years the numbers of new varieties of this important class are. 
