4 33 
.JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jane 3, 18h6, 
it was grown chiefly for ornament this was a very appropriate 
name, but now when they are eagerly consumed uncooked as a 
salad and cooked in many ways pet names are dropped, and they 
are regarded as a commercial commodity of great value. It is 
astonishing the price they command in the market. We never 
knew them to be less than Gd. per lb., and we have seen them at 
3s. and 4s. per lb. Their culture would, I am sure, pay equally 
as well as Tobacco or any other crop, and I am rather surprised 
that small garden owners have not turned their attention to 
growing them for profit. If they pay anyone to grow them 
under glass early in the season at 2s., 3s., or 4s. per lb., they 
would pay equally well or better at 6d. per lb. from the open 
throughout the autumn. Were 1 a grower of plants for sale I 
would advertise young Tomato plants by the thousand at this 
season. There are many who would gladly grow them, but 
raising the plants to have them a good size at this time is a 
matter they cannot accomplish without the aid of glass. 
One year I had a quantity of Tomato plants left over. I 
advertised these and they were all sold in less than a week, 
which indicated to me how anxious many were to secure plants 
ready for putting out and grow Tomatoes. Carter’s Green Gage 
is a yellow-fruiting variety. It bears heavily and does exced- 
ingly well in the open. Indeed it never fails to produce a satis¬ 
factory crop, and it is a great favourite with all who have grown it. 
Shy fruiting varieties should never be tried in the open. Laxton’s 
open air variety is also excellent and is a sure bearer of useful 
fruit. One of the main points to insure success is to have good 
plants to begin with. The first week in June is an excellent 
time to plant, and if the plants are 18 inches or 20 inches high 
then, well hardened off and robust, there is not the slightest 
danger of the crop failing Such plants would be in bloom 
before June was out, and they would begin ripening fruit 
in August, and continue bearing until frost cut them down. 
We always grow a quantity of early Tomatoes under glass, but 
from August onwards we depend wholly on our open-air plants, 
and we have never been disappointed. They must have a good 
position. They will not succeed in the shade A warm sunny 
aspect suits them admirably. We have often seen them do well 
as standard plants tied to stakes in warm spots, but if the shelter 
and support of a wall or wood fence can be given them they will 
be all the belter for it. We put a plant here and there on our 
kitchen garden fruit wall wherever we can find space ; but some 
of the cottagers and farmers in our district who have no walls 
round their gardens put a few out on the front of their houses 
or against any fence that may be there, and the results are always 
encouraging. Experienced cultivators often gi - ow them well in 
very poor soil, as they secure dwarf short-jointed plants in this 
and feed them well with liquid manure after the crop is formed; 
but the inexperienced will find their plants do best by giving 
them rich soil and getting them to make robust growth, which 
will bear fruit freely without more attention than restricting the 
growths and tying in the shoots. Each plant should have one 
ban-owload or more of good soil placed at the roots, and in 
planting the roots should be put well down, as many roots are 
sent forth from. the stem, and when part of this is buried it 
increases the feeders. Should the plants be somewhat delicate 
at first they should be protected for a few nights when first put 
out, and as soon as they begin growing select two of the most 
promising growths, tie them in or nail them up as leaders and 
pinch off every other shoot. This is very important, as when 
the plants form a mass of shoots they never fruit well. Through¬ 
out the whole of the period of their growth they should be 
examined at least once a week to remove the side shoots and tie 
in the two leaders Where there is plenty of space the plant 
may be allowed to take the form of a fan-shaped tree, but avoid 
crowding by all means, and where a heavy crop and good returns 
are the only consideration we would adopt the restricted system 
of growth. 
Ordinary plants will begin to fruit at 2 feet from the ground, 
and they will produce closely formed clustei's all the way up 
afterwards. When a large quantity of fruit has been formed 
liquid manure should be given two or three times weekly, and 
this may be applied as long as the weather is warm and the fruit 
is swelling freely. There is another good way of treating the 
plants before planting them out. This is to pot them into 6 inch 
or 8 inch pots, allow them to make a good leading shoot or two, 
which should be tied to a stake, and they will form a quantity of 
fruit before they are 3 feet in height. They are well treated 
under glass until about the middle of June, when they are 
planted out with the fruit attached and as this swells up and 
ripens early fresh quantities are produced in rapid succession. 
This is an excellent plan to adopt in cold districts where open- 
air plants would not be likely to succeed until midsummer or 
later.—A Kitchen Gardener. 
So rapidly has the acquired taste for Tomatoes increased 
during the last few years, that in order to meet the great demand 
for this wholesome vegetable-fruit its cultivation has been con¬ 
siderably extended in both private and market gardens. As we 
grow Tomatoes somewhat largely, and I think I may say success¬ 
fully, and as our mode of treatment is somewhat different from 
that practised by many, a few remarks may be acceptable. Instead 
of placing out plants from 9 to 12 inches high, as most growers are 
accustomed to do towards the end of May or early in June, we place 
large well established plants which have been grown for that pur¬ 
pose in pots ranging from 7 to 9 inches in diameter. We also utilise 
the best of the plants which have ripened their crops of fruit in 
the forcing houses in May after they have been properly hardened, 
as the larger the plants are at planting out time the sooner will 
they yield gatherings of fruit. Frequently our plants have set 
their fruits before they are planted out, thereby ensuring far 
greater supplies of fruit being gathered from plants growing 
out of doors than could otherwise be secured. This is a most 
important detail to be observed. The most suitable aspects for 
Tomato plants to occupy are south and west walls or fences. 
They may also be grown, but not successfully, against an east 
wall or fence. 
Planting. —Assuming that the soil is moist at the roots, 
turn the plants out of the pots, removing the drainage, and in 
the event of the roots being matted round the soil, as is sure to 
be the case with plants which have been forced, loosen them a 
little round the outside with a pointed stick before planting. 
Prepare a soil consisting of three part3 of light loam and one 
of short dung well mixed, pressing it firmly about the balls of 
earth and roots. This being done, secure the shoots at 9 or 10 
inches to the wall or fence with nails and shreds, allowing suffi¬ 
cient room in the latter for the development of the individual 
shoots. Single-stemmed plants should be planted at the same 
distance apart as that recommended for the shoots on the wall. 
Then give sufficient water at the roots to settle the soil about 
them, and in the event of bright sunshine prevailing at the time, 
hang mats over the plants for a few days until the roots have 
pushed into the new soil. After which, the more sun the plants 
are exposed to the more fruit they will bear, if their treatment 
be good. 
Thinning and Stopping Shoots and Leaves. —Upon the 
manner in which this operation is carried out depends success or 
failure, as anything approaching overcrowding of the shoots 
and leaves will assuredly lead to the latter. Therefore all lateral 
growths should be pinched at one joint and the compound leaves 
at two or three join f s from their bases, so as to prevent both 
shoots and leaves touching one another, as well as to expose the 
fruit to the full influence of the sun. The secondary growths 
should be stopped at one joint above each cluster of fruit. The 
slight check thus given to the flow of sip will cause the fruit to 
set more quickly and better than would otherwise be the case. 
If fine large fruits are desired in preference to medium-sized 
ones the clusters should be thinned, leaving, of course, the best- 
shaped and most even fruits for the crop. 
Watering. —Although Tomato plants, when treated as indi¬ 
cated above, yield the best possible results out of doors during a 
hot summer, it must not therefore be assumed that they like t;o 
be kept dry at the roots, the case being quite the reverse of this, 
and the plants swelling their fruit will be greatly benefited by 
an occasional soaking of liquid manure. A warm and somewhat 
dry atmosphere is most congenial to the requirements of the 
Tomato. There need be no apprehension of plants growing 
under the favourable conditions set forth above being attacked 
by the Tomato disease, which, in my opinion, is the result of the 
conditions under which the plants have been grown—viz., a c< ol 
humid atmosphere and an overcrowding of shoots and leaves, 
the latter being the most potent factor of disease—a disease 
which in the case of plants grown under glass and against sunny 
walls out of doors is quite avoidable in both cases, though if the 
summer should be a wet and cold one, the plants out of doors 
would very likely exhibit symptoms of discoloration in the 
leaves and shoots, and I have known a dusting of lime and soot 
over the affected parts prevent this spreading.—A. W. Ward. 
RICHAKDIAS. 
These plants are now in every garden, everybody knows 
how to grow them, and, as a matter of course, nobody wants 
to learn anythirg about them. I am very doubtful indeed if 
everybody who grows Richardias is acquainted with their capa¬ 
bilities, or has succeeded in securing to their plants the treat¬ 
ment which best suits them. It is one of the characteristics of 
present-day gardening that certain flowers are expected at any 
given day throughout the year, and, with us at least, Richardias 
